THIS should be a hot selling item given today’s complicated environment. We all need to know how to act and speak with correctness amid a dizzying variety of lifestyles and mentalities prevailing in a society in extreme flux at present.
I must say this is a virtue that now melds together what we know before as discretion, naturalness, modesty, courtesy, social graces, sense of timing and a feel for the right words and expression, etc., often understood in static mode.
This is not supposed to dampen our spontaneity and creativity. Not only is it compatible with them. It can enhance them since these values also need to be directed, guided and even packaged.
Correctness is a very dynamic virtue that orchestrates a myriad elements, all breathing and moving. Thus it should come as no surprise that we have to help one another in developing it. We have to be open to suggestions and even corrections from others.
The other day, a friend came complaining that in a town fiesta, the visiting high ecclesiastic who said the Mass scandalized a good number of people when he said in the homily that if GMA would die now, she would not get as many sympathizers as those who flocked and followed Cory’s wake and funeral.
According to my friend, he almost exploded inside the church. He said there were many others who felt the way he did. That was pure partisan political talk of the gutter level that has no place in a homily, he said. And to think that that ecclesiastic became emeritus before his retirement age due to a sexual harassment case, he said.
That clearly was a lack of correctness on the part of that emeritus churchman. As we can see, what we sow is also what we reap. If we sow intrigue, we are bound to reap intrigue as well. There are things that are notorious for causing a boomerang effect.
We have to learn this virtue of correctness fast and thoroughly. Especially for us, the clergy, who carry out a crucial ministry of the word or the delicate prophetic mission, this virtue is indispensable.
While it’s true that we have to evangelize all human realities, including our politics, we should make sure that we know the rules and stick to them strictly. We have to look at the example of Christ, then the saints.
We have to study and often review the many Church indications regarding this point. We already have a glut of them, and I still wonder why so many clerics still stray in this area.
One basic truth that should never be forgotten is the reality of the autonomy that our human affairs, like our politics, possess. As defined by Gaudium et Spes, autonomy is when “created things and societies enjoy their own laws and values which must be gradually deciphered, put to use, and regulated by men.” (36)
It’s this business of ‘gradually deciphering’ the laws and values governing things like our politics, a very dynamic and inexact science, that should make us most careful with our words and actions related to them.
Correctness is, of course, a developing and evolving virtue. It grows with the historical and cultural trends. But we have to make deliberate efforts to define and describe it along the way, to enlighten all of us as to how to behave and speak especially in public, and most especially when we speak using a certain office.
Obviously many would be the instances when we have to change or at least purify our attitudes and actuations regarding our temporal affairs. We should be very sensitive to these needs and very quick to react as they arise. The transitions can be very tricky. We have to make many adjustments and adaptations.
As much as possible, we have to avoid the demons of sensationalism, alarmism, partisan politicking especially among the clergy. We should try to create an atmosphere of positive proclamation instead of constant denunciation. We have to do more of explaining things rather than just complaining and falling into sarcasm.
Correctness also leads us to give due attention to put proper balance and perspective to our views and teachings. We just cannot be a one-track kind of guy, flippant and often loose-tongued and simply shooting from the hip.
We have to foster dialogue, not discourage it, because in our temporal affairs, especially in politics, we are like in a journey, and a journey together with everybody else, which make it both exciting and demanding.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Dispositions for prayer
BEING the language of the heart and the first and last among the ways for us to get in touch with God, prayer obviously has to be done well.
We have to do everything to make sure our prayer is true prayer, that is, a genuine conversation, or at least, a real contact with our Father God. In fact, we need to pray all the time. We have to learn to convert everything to prayer.
Sad to say, many of us are faking it. We can give an appearance of it, but minus its substance. But, for sure, this anomaly can only go so far. Sooner or later, the truth will come out.
But for all that, there is always hope. Even our tricks and foolishness we play in prayer can later become vivid lessons that teach us the finer requirements of prayer. So, let’s be optimistic always!
Prayer can take many forms—from the vocal to the mental, from the liturgical to the meditative and contemplative. Whatever form we may find ourselves in when we pray, we need to have the proper dispositions. These enable us to begin it, sustain it and end it with fruits to show.
We need to continually work on these dispositions because our human condition does not automatically lead us to pray. In fact, certain factors go against our need to pray.
We have to contend with our human weaknesses, first of all. Then there are those deformities caused by sin, ours and those of others, that we need to identify and cure as best as we could.
The environment can be hostile, or at least deceptive. Our country is still considered very Catholic and pious, and yet there are many aspects in the way we pray, privately and publicly, that cry to be purified and refined.
This is not to mention the powerful spiritual enemies that are ranged against us. For these, we need to learn how to discern spirits, to distinguish the good and the evil ones. And in this field, the tricks and deceptions are far worse.
Working on our dispositions can be an absorbing business, but all worth it. Once we develop the skill of praying, and even the spirit of it precisely because of our stable proper dispositions, then we will see that our prayer can go far and wide. It can give us a sensation of flight and penetration into the mysteries of our faith.
First would be the conviction that to succeed in prayer, we need to exert effort. Prayer without struggle, without discipline, simply does not take off. It remains grounded on the sensible and temporal, and cannot enter the spiritual and supernatural. We should not be sparing in this effort.
Then we need to be recollected, to gather our senses so that they get focused and attuned to the things of God and those of our soul. Some exercises may be needed for this.
But more than this, we have to prime ourselves to develop a certain devotion. Devotion is marked by a joy and quickness of heart to acknowledge God’s presence and do his will even at the slightest indication that can come to us in many mysterious ways.
Then we should approach our prayer with a humble heart. A proud heart is never welcomed by God. Humility keeps us objective and disposed to the truth. Pride does the opposite. Humility keeps the true relationship we have with God. Pride distorts it.
And together with humility, we have to learn to be confident in our prayer. We have to banish doubts and questions about God and his goodness. God is not only the first and supreme being. He is also our father who loves us to madness. We should try to be personally direct with him, not hide in anonymity.
Then we have to be persevering in our prayer. No matter what happens, even if we may be waiting for ages, we just have to persevere. Our faith in God should be such that we give him full trust regardless of the trials and difficulties.
And lastly, we have to learn to accept God’s will, or at least to have a sense of abandonment in God’s ways. We are free to ask and to insist, even to ask for the moon, but we should always accept what God gives at the moment, whether we like or not.
We have to do everything to make sure our prayer is true prayer, that is, a genuine conversation, or at least, a real contact with our Father God. In fact, we need to pray all the time. We have to learn to convert everything to prayer.
Sad to say, many of us are faking it. We can give an appearance of it, but minus its substance. But, for sure, this anomaly can only go so far. Sooner or later, the truth will come out.
But for all that, there is always hope. Even our tricks and foolishness we play in prayer can later become vivid lessons that teach us the finer requirements of prayer. So, let’s be optimistic always!
Prayer can take many forms—from the vocal to the mental, from the liturgical to the meditative and contemplative. Whatever form we may find ourselves in when we pray, we need to have the proper dispositions. These enable us to begin it, sustain it and end it with fruits to show.
We need to continually work on these dispositions because our human condition does not automatically lead us to pray. In fact, certain factors go against our need to pray.
We have to contend with our human weaknesses, first of all. Then there are those deformities caused by sin, ours and those of others, that we need to identify and cure as best as we could.
The environment can be hostile, or at least deceptive. Our country is still considered very Catholic and pious, and yet there are many aspects in the way we pray, privately and publicly, that cry to be purified and refined.
This is not to mention the powerful spiritual enemies that are ranged against us. For these, we need to learn how to discern spirits, to distinguish the good and the evil ones. And in this field, the tricks and deceptions are far worse.
Working on our dispositions can be an absorbing business, but all worth it. Once we develop the skill of praying, and even the spirit of it precisely because of our stable proper dispositions, then we will see that our prayer can go far and wide. It can give us a sensation of flight and penetration into the mysteries of our faith.
First would be the conviction that to succeed in prayer, we need to exert effort. Prayer without struggle, without discipline, simply does not take off. It remains grounded on the sensible and temporal, and cannot enter the spiritual and supernatural. We should not be sparing in this effort.
Then we need to be recollected, to gather our senses so that they get focused and attuned to the things of God and those of our soul. Some exercises may be needed for this.
But more than this, we have to prime ourselves to develop a certain devotion. Devotion is marked by a joy and quickness of heart to acknowledge God’s presence and do his will even at the slightest indication that can come to us in many mysterious ways.
Then we should approach our prayer with a humble heart. A proud heart is never welcomed by God. Humility keeps us objective and disposed to the truth. Pride does the opposite. Humility keeps the true relationship we have with God. Pride distorts it.
And together with humility, we have to learn to be confident in our prayer. We have to banish doubts and questions about God and his goodness. God is not only the first and supreme being. He is also our father who loves us to madness. We should try to be personally direct with him, not hide in anonymity.
Then we have to be persevering in our prayer. No matter what happens, even if we may be waiting for ages, we just have to persevere. Our faith in God should be such that we give him full trust regardless of the trials and difficulties.
And lastly, we have to learn to accept God’s will, or at least to have a sense of abandonment in God’s ways. We are free to ask and to insist, even to ask for the moon, but we should always accept what God gives at the moment, whether we like or not.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Journalist’s powers and limits
FIRST, I would like to thank Cardinal Vidal and the Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Award (CAMMA) for considering yours truly the Best in Column Writing this year. This is already my second time to receive the honor given biennially. It surely both humbles me and encourages me to do better.
It seems that what started as a hobby is now a serious thing, what started as a small cottage industry has assumed big industrial proportions, thanks also to our advanced technologies. I thank God for everything. It looks like the amateur has gone pro.
I will do my best, as the good Cardinal suggested, quoting Pope Benedict during the awarding ceremonies, to promote not only “a global village of neighbors, but also of brothers and sisters” through my writing.
Precisely because of that, I would like to highlight one point which I consider crucial in this business of writing for the papers. It’s to revisit the nature, character and purpose of words, the currency of every communication we make.
I’m afraid that since words are so common and so basic, we often fail to go beyond what they mean. Or better said, we fail to closely examine the things that go into the making of these words, that is, their origin, their suppositions and requirements. We are notorious in taking them for granted.
Without a good grasp of these aspects of words, we can tend to misuse them. We just use them in any way we want. Our attitude toward them is almost exclusively pragmatic. We become mere users, and often abusers.
As a result, verbal promiscuity, not fidelity, often takes place, since their ultimate point of reference is not God, who is absolute, but men, who are constantly changing. Confusion and contention, discord and agitation emerge. We can have the Tower-of-Babel syndrome.
That’s the point. We have to understand that our words are not meant to exist only because of us, or worse, as a mere product of our senses, instincts, passions, or even our thinking and common observations. They cannot and should not be purely man-made.
We should not just invent them completely on our own, nor use them, again completely on our own. We have to respect their true origin, as well as the laws that go with them, precisely to govern them properly when we coin and use them. Such laws exist.
Words, by necessity, need to spring up from God, or from our union with God. It is supposed to be a fruit of God’s mind and will, the creator of the real world and the ultimate measure of truth. Their minting is, of course, done by us, since they are by definition a product of a God-and-man joint venture.
Thus, words do possess both a divine and a human character. We need to be careful with them. Troubles arise when one aspect is highlighted at the expense of the other. Both aspects have to be considered and respected. Our fundamental problem with words often begins here.
These two constituent aspects of words are not meant to conflict with each other. Words cannot be truly human if they are not divine words. They cannot be divine either if they also are not thoroughly human words.
Their divine origin and inspiration should not restrain but rather enhance their human character, be that character literary, technical, academic, business, cultural, etc.
Our Christian faith sheds clear and strong light on this point. The Son of God who became man to save us by reconstituting our sin-damaged nature, is precisely God’s Word from whom all human words should come and to whom all our words should lead to.
We have to understand that by the very dynamics of our words, we are supposed to get engaged with God, coming from him and going to him. Bluntly said, when our use of words does not produce this behavior, we would clearly be misunderstanding and misusing them.
Journalists should realize this basic truth deeply. Though they—we—monitor and comment on daily events and issues and, thus, at best can only have tentative views, we have to make sure that on the whole there should be a movement towards truth and charity, that is, towards God.
The autonomy we enjoy in journalism, as in any human endeavor, is not supposed to desensitize us from our need to be in God’s orbit all the time.
It seems that what started as a hobby is now a serious thing, what started as a small cottage industry has assumed big industrial proportions, thanks also to our advanced technologies. I thank God for everything. It looks like the amateur has gone pro.
I will do my best, as the good Cardinal suggested, quoting Pope Benedict during the awarding ceremonies, to promote not only “a global village of neighbors, but also of brothers and sisters” through my writing.
Precisely because of that, I would like to highlight one point which I consider crucial in this business of writing for the papers. It’s to revisit the nature, character and purpose of words, the currency of every communication we make.
I’m afraid that since words are so common and so basic, we often fail to go beyond what they mean. Or better said, we fail to closely examine the things that go into the making of these words, that is, their origin, their suppositions and requirements. We are notorious in taking them for granted.
Without a good grasp of these aspects of words, we can tend to misuse them. We just use them in any way we want. Our attitude toward them is almost exclusively pragmatic. We become mere users, and often abusers.
As a result, verbal promiscuity, not fidelity, often takes place, since their ultimate point of reference is not God, who is absolute, but men, who are constantly changing. Confusion and contention, discord and agitation emerge. We can have the Tower-of-Babel syndrome.
That’s the point. We have to understand that our words are not meant to exist only because of us, or worse, as a mere product of our senses, instincts, passions, or even our thinking and common observations. They cannot and should not be purely man-made.
We should not just invent them completely on our own, nor use them, again completely on our own. We have to respect their true origin, as well as the laws that go with them, precisely to govern them properly when we coin and use them. Such laws exist.
Words, by necessity, need to spring up from God, or from our union with God. It is supposed to be a fruit of God’s mind and will, the creator of the real world and the ultimate measure of truth. Their minting is, of course, done by us, since they are by definition a product of a God-and-man joint venture.
Thus, words do possess both a divine and a human character. We need to be careful with them. Troubles arise when one aspect is highlighted at the expense of the other. Both aspects have to be considered and respected. Our fundamental problem with words often begins here.
These two constituent aspects of words are not meant to conflict with each other. Words cannot be truly human if they are not divine words. They cannot be divine either if they also are not thoroughly human words.
Their divine origin and inspiration should not restrain but rather enhance their human character, be that character literary, technical, academic, business, cultural, etc.
Our Christian faith sheds clear and strong light on this point. The Son of God who became man to save us by reconstituting our sin-damaged nature, is precisely God’s Word from whom all human words should come and to whom all our words should lead to.
We have to understand that by the very dynamics of our words, we are supposed to get engaged with God, coming from him and going to him. Bluntly said, when our use of words does not produce this behavior, we would clearly be misunderstanding and misusing them.
Journalists should realize this basic truth deeply. Though they—we—monitor and comment on daily events and issues and, thus, at best can only have tentative views, we have to make sure that on the whole there should be a movement towards truth and charity, that is, towards God.
The autonomy we enjoy in journalism, as in any human endeavor, is not supposed to desensitize us from our need to be in God’s orbit all the time.
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