THERE’S no doubt we are in for some tough, correction, tougher, much tougher times. The papers, the internet all talk about it. Even though we already are at Christmas’ doorstep, the familiar feel and texture of Christmas are missing.
The government can only admit of some economic slowdown. But people and experts are talking about business contraction, recession, depression, etc. Whatever! Some tightening of belt and screws is urgently needed.
What I know is that in the technical school where I’m chaplain of, many partner companies for our students training on-the-job are downsizing and are suspending the taking in of our student-trainees.
Many students and their teachers have come to me asking for prayers. Good sign! Their faith and hope are still intact. The challenge is how to sustain and strengthen them.
I’ve heard stories of how investments of some local people to the tune, for example, of P10M have suddenly been reduced to P4M in value. Whoa! That’s quite a fall.
Some of my economist-friends are giving me different scenarios of this economic crisis, showing me how macroeconomic factors are likely to play out.
Frankly, I prefer not to know a lot. It’s one of my defense mechanisms against a choking feeling of helplessness. At my mind’s back, though, I pray this could just another cycle. A rebound is going to happen at some point along the way.
Meanwhile, many people are getting depressed. I think most especially of those who barely are surviving with what they have been earning so far. And now this! It’s truly heart-breaking when you start to picture them.
We have to go through these hard times by being tough ourselves. And we can use these times to raise a notch or two in our understanding of this virtue called toughness.
Tough times call for tough actions and for toughness itself. They test our mettle. They surface the kind of spirit we have, for in the end it’s the spirit, more than anything else, that holds the key.
Like a reagent, tough times detect the range and scope, the breadth and depth of our ultimate anchor beliefs. That’s the saving grace of these unwelcome times.
We have to understand that toughness is not just a matter of physical strength or intellectual superiority. Much less is it a question of wealth, power and fame.
Toughness has its roots, branches and fruits mainly in the spirit. And it’s where our spirit takes root, where it’s established and fixed that determines the quality and authenticity of our toughness, whether our toughness can really run the gauntlet.
If it’s just based on things human and natural, then we are in for great trouble. But if it’s founded on faith in God, then even the troubles become a source of strength.
St. Paul says so: “Strength is made perfect in weakness. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the strength of Christ may dwell in me. Wherefore I am satisfied with persecutions, with distresses. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12,8-10)
We have to understand this reasoning of faith well. This is what truly corresponds to who and how we are. We are not just any creature, biological, social and intellectual. We are persons and children of God. We are mainly a spiritual being with a supernatural goal.
What is proper of us is to live in the life of God. That’s what our spiritual faculties—our intellect and will—are for. We just don’t depend on material nourishment. It’s in our living union with God, through grace and our will, where we develop our true life and derive our toughness.
Such toughness combines both hard and soft qualities, enabling us to be strong without being rigid, energetic without being violent. It lets us to be patient and hopeful without being inactive. On the contrary, it allows us to be creative and flexible, resourceful and enterprising.
Such toughness distances us from the clutches of excessive worries and self-pity. It empowers us to find joy and peace even in the midst of suffering. It teaches us how to suffer with a smile, and how to wait productively. It breeds and keeps our determination.
Our emerging tough times demand such toughness.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Befriending psychology
I WAS happy to learn that the Vatican has recently released a document, “On the use of psychology in the seminary.” It’s about time that something of this sort be officially recommended by Church authorities.
Of course, the immediate context of the document is the clerical sexual scandals that oppressed the Church in many parts of the world a few years ago and continue to haunt us today.
But it actually possesses a very objective importance, regardless of circumstances, and a universal coverage that should be highlighted, especially at these times.
In it, the crucial help that psychology as a science can give to seminarians and, I must say, to everybody else is traced. Insofar as seminarians are concerned, the document says that recourse to experts in the psychological sciences can:
“…allow a more sure evaluation of the candidate’s psychic state; it can help evaluate his human dispositions for responding to the divine call; and it can provide some extra assistance for the candidate’s human growth.”
So you see, psychology is not only for handling mental problems and illnesses, already a tremendous task. It also contributes to human growth, which should always be stimulated by every legitimate means available!
By now, everyone should be convinced that our life always has a psychological dimension. Every virtue or vice has psychological effects and triggers some psychological dynamics. We should try our best to know them.
We don’t talk about it only when there are problems. We always have to take it into consideration in all our dealings with people. That at least would denote a growth in our sensitivity to others.
Thus, in the seminary some psychological profiling has to be done of every candidate to the priesthood, noting each one’s strengths and weaknesses in this aspect, his good and bad potentials, etc. And a close monitoring of this portrait, given its dynamic nature, should be made.
I frankly believe that not only the use of psychology should be promoted but also some serious effort be made to mainstream the skill and expertise on the part of seminary formators and others similarly situated in this vital field of knowledge.
We have to drastically rehabilitate the image of psychology in the minds not only of the Church officials but also of everybody else. We cannot deny that psychology is still treated like a leper in the community or the house fool everyone tries to hide. We have to get out of that antiquated mindset.
At the rate we are developing with all the complicating and insanity-tending elements around, there’s no way but for psychology to be duly acknowledged, its need appreciated and its use spread far and wide.
Again, insofar as its use is relevant to seminary formation, the document lists down several factors that undermine the psychological health of seminarians and those asking admission.
“Those who today ask admittance to the seminary,” it says, “reflect, in a more or less accentuated way, the unease of an emerging mentality characterized by consumerism, instability in family and social relationships, moral relativism, erroneous visions of sexuality….”
Just a few months ago, I noted that Pope Benedict said something that today’s youth are a “fragile generation,” and I could not agree with him more. My everyday experience and contact with people more than abundantly validate this observation.
There are many people with clearly psychological wounds, some very deep and grave, springing even from their own family environment, not to mention, the usual problem areas: pressures from work, social relations, politics, business, showbiz, etc.
I am no psychologist but that does not prevent me from recognizing obvious irregularities in the mental, affective and sexual aspects of many people. These concerns have to be given more effective attention.
Of course, the use of psychology should not replace the spiritual and supernatural means that are always indispensable in the formation of seminarians as well as of everybody else.
It should be the constant accompaniment of these spiritual means, a tool to express and fathom the spiritual developments, since these always have some psychological manifestations. Naturally, it should also be an instrument to enhance the seminarians’ personalities and temperaments.
Thus, a sound psychology should be learned, since there are many schools of thought in this regard, and not all are good.
Of course, the immediate context of the document is the clerical sexual scandals that oppressed the Church in many parts of the world a few years ago and continue to haunt us today.
But it actually possesses a very objective importance, regardless of circumstances, and a universal coverage that should be highlighted, especially at these times.
In it, the crucial help that psychology as a science can give to seminarians and, I must say, to everybody else is traced. Insofar as seminarians are concerned, the document says that recourse to experts in the psychological sciences can:
“…allow a more sure evaluation of the candidate’s psychic state; it can help evaluate his human dispositions for responding to the divine call; and it can provide some extra assistance for the candidate’s human growth.”
So you see, psychology is not only for handling mental problems and illnesses, already a tremendous task. It also contributes to human growth, which should always be stimulated by every legitimate means available!
By now, everyone should be convinced that our life always has a psychological dimension. Every virtue or vice has psychological effects and triggers some psychological dynamics. We should try our best to know them.
We don’t talk about it only when there are problems. We always have to take it into consideration in all our dealings with people. That at least would denote a growth in our sensitivity to others.
Thus, in the seminary some psychological profiling has to be done of every candidate to the priesthood, noting each one’s strengths and weaknesses in this aspect, his good and bad potentials, etc. And a close monitoring of this portrait, given its dynamic nature, should be made.
I frankly believe that not only the use of psychology should be promoted but also some serious effort be made to mainstream the skill and expertise on the part of seminary formators and others similarly situated in this vital field of knowledge.
We have to drastically rehabilitate the image of psychology in the minds not only of the Church officials but also of everybody else. We cannot deny that psychology is still treated like a leper in the community or the house fool everyone tries to hide. We have to get out of that antiquated mindset.
At the rate we are developing with all the complicating and insanity-tending elements around, there’s no way but for psychology to be duly acknowledged, its need appreciated and its use spread far and wide.
Again, insofar as its use is relevant to seminary formation, the document lists down several factors that undermine the psychological health of seminarians and those asking admission.
“Those who today ask admittance to the seminary,” it says, “reflect, in a more or less accentuated way, the unease of an emerging mentality characterized by consumerism, instability in family and social relationships, moral relativism, erroneous visions of sexuality….”
Just a few months ago, I noted that Pope Benedict said something that today’s youth are a “fragile generation,” and I could not agree with him more. My everyday experience and contact with people more than abundantly validate this observation.
There are many people with clearly psychological wounds, some very deep and grave, springing even from their own family environment, not to mention, the usual problem areas: pressures from work, social relations, politics, business, showbiz, etc.
I am no psychologist but that does not prevent me from recognizing obvious irregularities in the mental, affective and sexual aspects of many people. These concerns have to be given more effective attention.
Of course, the use of psychology should not replace the spiritual and supernatural means that are always indispensable in the formation of seminarians as well as of everybody else.
It should be the constant accompaniment of these spiritual means, a tool to express and fathom the spiritual developments, since these always have some psychological manifestations. Naturally, it should also be an instrument to enhance the seminarians’ personalities and temperaments.
Thus, a sound psychology should be learned, since there are many schools of thought in this regard, and not all are good.
Friday, November 7, 2008
History cycles and providence
OK, times have shifted. The American landscape has changed, and that of the world, including ours, obviously will be affected. We’re into some exciting period of liberalism, we are told.
That seems to be the unstoppable trend especially in Europe and the so-called developed countries now. They’re into same-sex unions, assisted suicide, assisted drug use, other than the usual agenda of abortion and contraception.
In our country, we are still largely virginal, since these practices are still euphemistically branded as reproductive health. We need some more years of moral deterioration and warped reasoning before we start to openly embrace these practices.
Now it’s the turn for the social and political conservatives to rest and hibernate. For how long, we don’t know. I suppose they tried their best, but human shortcomings and other adverse factors cannot be avoided. Out of the public stage, they need to return to the straight and narrow, and retool themselves—and wait for better times.
There are those who characterize the conservative period as a total disaster, a certified failure. I prefer not to enter into the debate. While I cannot deny the bad spots, there still were instances of solid accomplishments especially in areas which I consider most important.
But life has to go on. I don’t care much if what’s coming is good or bad. Good and bad times depend on what we make out of things. I prefer to look at it as another history cycle that reflects how people, at least the American majority now, feel and think. Don’t ask me if the pulse shows health or sickness. We all are a work in progress, easily affected by all sorts of conditions. We just have to move on.
This history-cycle theory is more like the old Greco-Roman attitude toward history. It’s not completely right, nor is it completely wrong. We just take advantage of what in it can be helpful. We have to learn how to go with the tide without losing one’s sense of direction.
In the forthcoming liberal times, there still are wide spaces of hope that can be useful. We just have to be quick to take advantage of them. No matter how sharp the differences among ourselves are, we share many unavoidably common values. For example, there’s earnest desire to improve economic life and social justice, liberal style. Now, that is not a bad idea.
Of course, this is no declaration that we be passive in this flow of alternating cycles. On the contrary. We ought to take a most active part, since while there is some kind of oscillating law in history, there is also a need to energetically shape it according to one’s guiding ideology or faith. This is just how we are.
The Christian attitude to history always includes a spiritual and supernatural principle often missed out by man-made philosophies. God intervenes in human history, and actively and directly at that, though in very mysterious ways. He is the lord of history. We are his stewards who have to learn to concur and cooperate with God’s actions.
It’s for this reason that anyone who is guided by this Christian view is both confident and tense, because he knows everything is under God’s control while also requiring full human responsibility. Things depend completely on God, and also completely on us. It’s a 100-100 proposition, not 50-50, or 70-30. Of course, this would break our mathematical frame of mind. But that’s how things are.
Christianity considers history not as the product of blind forces nor of chance. It is a manifestation of divine providence and human freedom. Christians are expected to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” Ideally, there has to be concurrence between the divine and the human. But that will require us to live by faith, a truly demanding task.
The shape of history is made in the hearts of men, and not so much in politics. And in the Christian view, it is the saints, the holy men and women down the ages that figure prominently in shaping the course of history. While important and indispensable, politics can only reflect what’s inside people’s hearts. Its perfection cannot be achieved here. We have to wait for heaven for that.
In the meantime, let’s go on with our show here on earth, doing our best to concur freely with God’s providence.
That seems to be the unstoppable trend especially in Europe and the so-called developed countries now. They’re into same-sex unions, assisted suicide, assisted drug use, other than the usual agenda of abortion and contraception.
In our country, we are still largely virginal, since these practices are still euphemistically branded as reproductive health. We need some more years of moral deterioration and warped reasoning before we start to openly embrace these practices.
Now it’s the turn for the social and political conservatives to rest and hibernate. For how long, we don’t know. I suppose they tried their best, but human shortcomings and other adverse factors cannot be avoided. Out of the public stage, they need to return to the straight and narrow, and retool themselves—and wait for better times.
There are those who characterize the conservative period as a total disaster, a certified failure. I prefer not to enter into the debate. While I cannot deny the bad spots, there still were instances of solid accomplishments especially in areas which I consider most important.
But life has to go on. I don’t care much if what’s coming is good or bad. Good and bad times depend on what we make out of things. I prefer to look at it as another history cycle that reflects how people, at least the American majority now, feel and think. Don’t ask me if the pulse shows health or sickness. We all are a work in progress, easily affected by all sorts of conditions. We just have to move on.
This history-cycle theory is more like the old Greco-Roman attitude toward history. It’s not completely right, nor is it completely wrong. We just take advantage of what in it can be helpful. We have to learn how to go with the tide without losing one’s sense of direction.
In the forthcoming liberal times, there still are wide spaces of hope that can be useful. We just have to be quick to take advantage of them. No matter how sharp the differences among ourselves are, we share many unavoidably common values. For example, there’s earnest desire to improve economic life and social justice, liberal style. Now, that is not a bad idea.
Of course, this is no declaration that we be passive in this flow of alternating cycles. On the contrary. We ought to take a most active part, since while there is some kind of oscillating law in history, there is also a need to energetically shape it according to one’s guiding ideology or faith. This is just how we are.
The Christian attitude to history always includes a spiritual and supernatural principle often missed out by man-made philosophies. God intervenes in human history, and actively and directly at that, though in very mysterious ways. He is the lord of history. We are his stewards who have to learn to concur and cooperate with God’s actions.
It’s for this reason that anyone who is guided by this Christian view is both confident and tense, because he knows everything is under God’s control while also requiring full human responsibility. Things depend completely on God, and also completely on us. It’s a 100-100 proposition, not 50-50, or 70-30. Of course, this would break our mathematical frame of mind. But that’s how things are.
Christianity considers history not as the product of blind forces nor of chance. It is a manifestation of divine providence and human freedom. Christians are expected to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” Ideally, there has to be concurrence between the divine and the human. But that will require us to live by faith, a truly demanding task.
The shape of history is made in the hearts of men, and not so much in politics. And in the Christian view, it is the saints, the holy men and women down the ages that figure prominently in shaping the course of history. While important and indispensable, politics can only reflect what’s inside people’s hearts. Its perfection cannot be achieved here. We have to wait for heaven for that.
In the meantime, let’s go on with our show here on earth, doing our best to concur freely with God’s providence.
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