Structures always need animation

POPE Benedict’s second encyclical, Spe salvi (By hope were we saved), gives us a timely reminder about something we many times take for granted and then forget.

Structures, in whatever form they come and no matter how important and indispensable, are useless if not animated by freedom and love.

It’s a reminder for all of us, but most especially for our leaders in all fields of human endeavor, whether in the civil side or ecclesiastical.

The prompter is amply discussed in nos. 22 to 27 of the document, generating a good number of helpful insights, corollaries and practical considerations. It would be good to go through some of these points here, like…

- “If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man’s ethical formation, in man’s inner growth, then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.”

- “The right state of human affairs, the moral well-being of the world can never be guaranteed simply through structures alone, however good they are.”

- “Even the best structures function only when the community is animated by convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the social order. Freedom requires conviction; conviction does not exist on its own, but must always be gained anew by the community.”

There are many more, but these are enough to remind us that whatever structures we use, they have to be properly animated by freedom, or love which is freedom’s best expression and the creator of convictions.

Without this freedom and love, the structures would lack the soul proper to anything involving human affairs. If structures were jokes, they would lack the punch line. If they were stories, they would lack the climax.

The Pope mentioned a number of historical cases where utopias were promised by ideological systems that failed miserably in the end because they proposed beautiful structures but forgot the animating principle for them.

He mentioned the communist and socialist experiments in many places. In our local setting, we now often complain about the effectiveness of our much-vaunted “People Power” that now seems to be helpless before our complicating political conditions.

Let us remember always that we are not ruled mainly by structures, but rather by freedom and love. That’s how we have been designed, meant for, geared and outfitted. So, let’s not get entangled with our differences in matters of structures. Let’s concentrate more on the spiritual.

Of course, structures and programs are always necessary. But let’s remember that there will be no perfect structure applicable to everyone everywhere. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Let’s just make some kind of consensus so we can live in relative peace.

Also, that our perfection, both personal and social, can only take place in heaven and not here. In this life, only traces of that perfection can be achieved, mainly internally rather than externally.

One practical implication of this papal reminder, especially relevant to our spiritual and Church leaders, is to be relatively cool about the different legitimate albeit imperfect options insofar as structures are concerned, but to be unwaveringly hot about the spirit that should animate these structures.

This latter requirement should never be neglected. Everything should be done not only not to lose sight of it, but also not to be distracted from it. This is because it is a requirement that needs tremendous and constant efforts.

This need requires both supernatural and human means—continuing prayers and sacrifices, recourse to the sacraments, ascetical struggle and development of virtues, catechesis especially of the social doctrine, etc.

In this, more than the government it is the families, the churches and schools that should take the greater responsibility. Thus, if these institutions are also focused more on the structural than on the spiritual, then we’d be in trouble.

So the clergy should keenly realize that it falls on them, more than on anybody else, to provide the spiritual stimulus and nourishment for the people. That’s their distinctive contribution that should not be diluted as much as possible by any other consideration no matter how important.

Conversion

WITH Ash Wednesday, we again begin another season of Lent. Let’s hope that the annual cycle of time, be it chronological, fiscal, academic and especially liturgical, carry a lot of meaning to which we should be attentive.

Time cannot exist by itself. Never an abstract reality, it has to adhere to a substance, such as we are, and therefore it just cannot be a measure of before and after, but is some space for us to achieve a particular purpose.

This is not the place to explain the point, but time converges the objective and subjective dimensions of life’s objective, God’s plan for it and our response. We have to understand and relish the many implications involved in the nature and the meaning of time.

This liturgical season of Lent highlights a basic need, that of conversion, from the inmost part of our being, our heart and mind, to the most social and global dimension of our life.

This is the be-all and end-all of Lent, supposed to be a permanent feature in our consciousness, not to serve as a wet blanket, but rather as a stimulus for us to return to the orbit proper to us. It’s like a corrective maintenance for us.

We have to be wary of the many factors, especially in our current culture and world environment, that tend to weaken our awareness of this need, and even to distort and annul it.

We have been warned so many times before by saints and Church leaders that our sense of sin down the ages has been quite skewed and left out of sync with our faith in God’s plan for us.

Directly said, we need conversion because we have fallen away from our God, our Creator and Father. Yes, it’s time to remind ourselves that we come from God, not just from dust, and that we are meant to live our life with him and to return to him.

Lent is a time to recall how sin entered into the world, how it tampered our nature and our life, how it has been cured, and how we can attain that cure. In a manner of speaking, Lent supplies a crucial missing link in the understanding of our life.

It gives us a more complete and realistic picture of our life, since we tend to disregard some not-so-pleasant aspects of it. Thus, it’s not just dark and hard things that it connotes. It actually points to a human triumph, to joy and peace.

This is because while Lent tells us to grapple with sin and everything that it involves—temptations, effects and structures of sin from the personal level up to the most social aspect—it also reassures us of victory due to God’s endless mercy.

Lent guides us through the way of conversion and transformation, from sin to grace, from moral anemia to radiating vitality, from spiritual death to life. It teaches us that with grace we have to undertake ascetical struggle.

“Where sin abounded, grace abounded even more,” St. Paul tells us. (Rom 5,20) Many other references in the Gospel give us reasons to be hopeful and optimistic about our human condition immersed in sin.

There’s just one thing that I would like to highlight regarding Lent. It is for us to develop a deep spirit of penance. This is the constant awareness of our sinfulness and what we can do about it.

Our sins, failures and weaknesses should not be a deterrent in our relationship with God. With faith in God’s mercy, with humility, we can make them an occasion to get to God even more closely. He always waits for us and is very eager to forgive us.

Our attitude should be like that of the woman with hemorrhage who struggled to touch our Lord’s hem, like that of the blind Bartimaeus who shouted to get Christ’s attention, like that of the paralytic who had to be lowered down the roof to get to our Lord.

With faith in God’s overpowering love for us, in God who loves us so much that He gave his only Son, “so that whoever believes in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting,” (Jn 3,16) we can resurrect from our sin.

We have to richly embroider this spirit of penance with a lot of details—making acts of atonement and reparation, confessing regularly, doing works sof mercy and our work well, being merciful ourselves, etc.

All these make our life truly beautiful!

Bishops’ statements

THE CBCP statement has just come out. A regular product of our bishops’ plenary meetings every January, this year’s statement is entitled, “Reform yourselves and believe in the gospel.”

It’s a call to curb our penchant to blame others for our socio-political problems. Change starts with one’s own self, and this time that change should focus on everyone developing a true Christian social conscience, concerned about the common good, etc., etc.

Through the years, these statements have acquired tremendous importance. And many sectors, especially the press, have learned to look forward to them.

A good part of the reason for this expectation is the largely political element which these statements are now known to have. The media, in fact, vulture-wait for it for that purpose.

Give them a mainly doctrinal-spiritual statement, they will wilt in disappointment. It’s clear they prefer action, drama, blood, revolution to any reminder about prayer, reflection, internal change and quiet social transformation.

This just shows that the Church, which means all of us, needs to more actively evangelize the media. Also, that our bishops should correct the perception in the media that they’re leaning more on social issues than on spiritual ones.

As we all know by now, when the statement came out, the media practically dismissed it as a big letdown to those who wanted the president’s ouster.

Imagine, all the bishops’ praying and discussion just boiling down to that, just amounting to that! Really quite unfair of the media.

But the media are not only to blame. There are things that need to be corrected. We just have to identify them clearly and try to provide the adequate solutions. Like:

- There has to be a more expert way on the part of the bishops in handling the media. Their spokesmen and communication personnel should have a well-developed plan to assure a fair exposure of the true spirit and intent of their statements.

What I see is improvisation and little-coordinated communication efforts, with hardly any follow-ups. There’s also an abiding fatalistic attitude, saying that the media will always be sensational, unfair, biased. This perception should rather rouse Church officials to action.

- We have to erase or minimize the mainly political character of these statements. It’s giving wrong signals to many people, something that the media, of course, is quick to capitalize.

Instead, bishops should be more pro-active than reactive, concentrating on a systematic way of evangelizing our socio-economic and political issues, constantly echoing the Church’s social doctrine. This has to be given more visibility and resonance.

- There should be more and better consultants in the fields of sociology, economics, politics, etc. to give bishops helpful professional advice. In this way, the bishops’ views can acquire greater depth and reach finer nuances, and thus minimize misunderstandings and increase their credibility.

Let’s remember that we are now in a highly information-dependent world. The media today is our new Areopagus, a market abuzz with ideas and views. We have to adapt to this new environment.

Communication styles that worked before, on much simpler and more homogeneous audiences, may not click now. At best they can be retired, placed perhaps in some museum. We have to find more appropriate ways in sync with today’s mentalities.

The apocalyptic, fire-and-brimstone style is definitely obsolete. People nowadays pay more attention to gentler styles, freed of condescending tones, that combine prompt practicality and deep spirituality.

They prefer lighter if more often reminders than occasional but severe and imperial ones. The latter discourage interaction. In this regard, Pope Benedict’s flowing style is worth emulating. He even used anecdotes in his last encyclical, softening its brick-like content.

People like to see their bishops as having a hands-on approach to practical problems. They are getting increasingly impatient with simply being preached to or told the last word.

For this, people actually just want to be encouraged, reminded about being patient, fair and balanced in their assessments of things, having good manners, etc. They appreciate these things more than seeing their bishops getting involved in partisan positions.