Back to school

ANOTHER school year opens and I am now again back to
school. It’s just one among many other pastoral assignments given to
me this year. But I welcome this opportunity to be involved in a
school, since the exciting task of forming people is made easier by
the more or less controlled and structured conditions schools have.

            Still I know I have to keep myself strong inside and
outside to tackle all the burden that undeniably is also great, and
even daunting. Just the same, I also know that it also has its sweet
and gratifying moments. It’s not all sweat and blood, my friend.

            As chaplain, I say Mass everyday for everyone
there—students, teachers, staff, some parents and guests. I hear
confessions, conduct recollections, retreats and doctrine classes, and
sit for hours in the confessional for personal spiritual direction.

            These are very delicate tasks but also a very privileged
honor. Not everyone gets the chance to be of help and to make some
crucial impact on the most intimate aspects of the lives of young
people.

            Much of this work is done hidden and in silence, without
fanfare and worldly rewards. But what consoles is the thought that
that’s how things and persons grow. And if I do things well, I know
that together with God’s grace, I would be making a big difference in
the lives of people.

            It’s in these personal chats that I can clarify matters
and issues, give pieces of advice and words of encouragement, sow
reasons for hope and broaden minds and hearts by pointing to our
ultimate common goal while learning how to avoid getting entangled
along the way. My desire is to be able to motivate and inspire people.

            In a sense, I would be walking and journeying with them.
And given current world conditions, the effort is not without
difficulties. Complicated minds and attitudes have taken root in many
people. One really has to be very patient and creative with them,
knowing how to make timely detours, when to stop, when to go, etc.

            The effect of all this task is many times very
heartwarming, as people make welcome changes in their lives. Some
people think miracles do not happen anymore these days. My experience
is different. I see miracles taking place every day, though most of
them do not have external manifestations.

            Among the things I do in school is to give a class on
Christian morality to high school seniors. While I have been giving
classes and talks on this topic, there’s always the challenge of how
to present the same ideas and doctrine especially to young people
whose mental and emotional framework may be a bit, if not, a lot
different from what I’m used to.

            There’s always the need to adapt oneself to his audience.
He needs to be most perceptive of the subtle shifts of mentality that
takes place among people through the years and to attune himself to
those conditions.

            It cannot be denied that giving classes also involves some
skills in performance and theatrics to be able to catch and keep the
attention of the students. Especially when the students are young, the
teacher has to contend with the notorious fickle-mindedness of these
students. But he should not lose sight of the essential things to be
imparted.

            Due preparation is a must in giving classes. A teacher has
to bear in mind that his presence alone should project a certain
wholesomeness that would attract the young students, including the
laziest and the most distracted and inattentive ones.

            He should try his best that he is consistent himself with
what he is teaching. What frustrates students most is when they see
their teachers not living what they are  teaching.

            In this class on Christian morality, I immediately felt
the need to clarify what morality is not. That’s because nowadays,
many people, especially the young, come with very distorted ideas and
biases against the mere mention of morality.

            I had to say that morality is not just about human
sexuality, though a good part is dedicated to it since it is where
many of us have our weakness, if not, our Waterloo. Neither is
morality simply about rules, though rules there also are.

            The challenge is how to make a keen sense of morality an
integral, natural part of one’s thinking, speaking and acting. Sad to
say, with the thick cloud of confusion nowadays, many people have
practically lost this sense, and if they still have it, it is quite
damaged, needing repair.

Pentecost today

TO be sure, Pentecost which celebrates the coming of the
Holy Spirit is not an event in the past that at best is merely to be
remembered if we care. It continues to take place up to now.

            In the first place, every liturgical celebration is not
just a commemoration of something that happened in the past. It is the
making present of what took place in the past, since the subject of
the celebration is Jesus Christ who is God and man. As God he is
eternal. Nothing in him or in his action is simply swallowed in the
past.

            And that’s also because, to put it bluntly, the Holy
Spirit is the very life of the whole world, the whole creation. He can
never withdraw from the universe no matter how much we ignore him, or
worse, deny his presence and ever abiding action on all of us.

            Nothing exists, nothing can be real and true if the Holy
Spirit is not first of all in the very core of its being. No one can
do good, no one can believe in God if he is not animated in some way
by the Holy Spirit.

            What we should rather do is to sharpen our sensitivity to
the indispensable role of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the
world. Even more, we, as God’s image and likeness and adopted children
of his through his grace, should in fact try our best to cooperate
with him.

            Among all God’s creatures, we are the ones expected to
cooperate with the Holy Spirit as closely as possible. That’s due to
our spiritual nature which, through our intelligence and will, enables
us to enter into intimate communion with him.

            We are meant to share our life with the Holy Spirit. We
need to hammer this truth of our faith more insistently these days,
since the ignorance and indifference to the Holy Spirit is widespread
and prevalent.

            There’s, first of all, some awkwardness with the idea of
living with the Holy Spirit, for the obvious reason that we are
dealing with a supernatural reality that requires more than just our
natural powers.

            But if we really come down to it, there’s actually no
problem with dealing with supernatural realities, since God in the
Holy Spirit always adapts himself to our conditions and circumstances.

            This truth is best illustrated with the mystery of the
Incarnation, that is, God becomes man, or better said, God assumes
human nature without leaving or diluting his divine nature.

            The supernatural life of God with which we are meant to
share does not suppress our nature. Rather the supernatural purifies
and strengthens our nature that has been dirtied and weakened by sin,
then elevates it.

            For his part, God gives us in abundance everything that we
need to live the supernatural life with him. He gives us first of all
faith, hope and charity. They are called theological virtues, since
they have God as source and end. They are not man-made virtues.

            Then the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are poured on
us—wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and
fear of the Lord. These further refine and facilitate the workings of
the theological virtues.

            Being filled with the Holy Spirit produces twelve fruits
that precisely indicate the Holy Spirit is in us. These are charity,
joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness,
faith, modesty, continence and chastity.

            On our part, we should predispose ourselves to receive all
these by being docile always to the working of the Holy Spirit. This
would include having recourse to the sacraments, developing a life of
prayer and continuing formation, and loving the cross, since following
Christ involves the cross always as he himself told us clearly.

            We should not be afraid to go through this formula. And a
beautiful and useful prayer can be the one composed by St. Josemaria
Escriva. It says:

            “Come, O holy Spirit! / Enlighten my mind to know your
commands; / strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; /
inflame my will... / I have heard your voice, / and I don’t want to
harden myself and resist, / saying, ‘Later..., tomorrow.’

            “Nunc coepi! Now I begin! / In case there is no tomorrow
for me. / O Spirit of truth and wisdom / Spirit of understanding and
counsel, / Spirit of joy and peace! / I want whatever you want, I want
because you want, I want however you want, I want whenever you want. /
Amen.”

            Then be amazed at how the Holy Spirit works in our life!

To a new priest

I DON’T know if it’s a sign of aging that every time I attend an
ordination of priests, I get very moved in a strange way. All sorts of
thoughts and feelings come to mind. I easily fall into waxing lyrical,
sentimental, hopeful, etc., in an alternating flow.

There’s also a trace of apprehension which I try to drown out with
positive thoughts. There’s always hope, no matter what. That’s what I
repeat in my mind, always recalling God’s promises to all of us. I
believe the good always triumphs in the end.

I suppose it’s the years in the priesthood that have made me more
perceptive and nuanced regarding possible scenarios that we, priests,
can find ourselves in. In a manner of speaking, my experience has
enabled me to read more between the lines, to be more discerning of
the drift, the implications, etc.

There’s the good and the not-so-good scenarios. My experience has
enriched my appreciation of these possibilities, and have made me more
aware of the many factors and elements that go into them. The happy
cases are many, but the saddening ones are also growing.

In the face of all this, my reaction and evolving conviction focus on
how I can be of help to my brother-priests. I feel that I cannot
remain in the level of intention and theory alone. I have to dive into
the pond and get dirty if need be.

And so, if I have the chance to talk to a new priest, most likely
these are what I would say.

I would strongly advise him to always remember the points articulated
in the manual for priests called, The Directory for the Ministry and
Life of Priests. This has been updated lately and now contains more
details more reflective of current world situation.

There the basic areas of concern are well explained, namely, what the
priestly identity is, the need both to develop a working priestly
spirituality and to avail of continuing formation.

Sad to say, these points appear to be known mainly in theory but
hardly put into practice. The gap and inconsistency is widening.
Nowadays, we can even hear voices of dissent to what have already been
clearly defined.

And if there’s one thing I feel is most crucial in a priest’s life,
it’s his life of prayer, his abiding effort to get in touch with God,
with Christ, with the Holy Spirit everyday.

This can take many forms and can be done in many ways. But what I
would consider very fundamental is the daily meditation of God’s word
as conveyed to us in the Bible.

I would like to give special mention to the praying of the breviary.
It’s a daily prayer for priests, containing beautiful psalms, readings
and excerpts from Tradition, church documents and writings of saints,
etc.

There the very thoughts, will, sentiments and desires of God are
expressed vividly. If all of us, being image and likeness of God have
to reflect these thoughts and sentiments of Christ, then we should
realize how important it is know and incarnate his words.

This is especially so for priests who are the sacramental
representations of Christ as head of the Church—we act “in persona
Christi capitis.”

The breviary is a beautiful source of inspiration. It feeds the faith,
strengthens the hope and sharpens the charity of priests. It trains
the heart to feel both for God and for all men, in the different
situations and predicaments we can be in.

It gives us the complete picture of our life and mission on earth. It
effectively blends all the aspects of human life, from the material to
the spiritual, from the temporal to the eternal, from the natural to
the supernatural. It broadens our minds, warms our hearts, and equips
and prepares us to face whatever in life.

It teaches us what to be concerned about, and how it has to be
pursued. It’s never an abstract piece of literature, detached from our
immediate daily realities.

Thus, we have to be most careful when we think that to be realistic,
or to get real, we can withdraw from God’s word and just rely on our
reason, our sciences and arts, our opinions and consensus, etc.

We need to give priority to God’s word as expressed in the breviary.
It’s where we can truly get in touch with God. Otherwise, we would
just feed on our own food, with more or less effective results, but
fail to be nourished by the real thing.

A priest should preach God’s word, not merely his own word.