IN any social
environment where we always find ourselves, be
it the family, school, office, parish, or society in
general, etc., we
have to remember three basic and indispensable principles
that should
guide our actuations there. These are the principles of
the common
good, solidarity and subsidiarity.
The definitions of
these principles are found in the
Catechism and in many other sources, but for now I would
like to focus
on the principle of solidarity. This is the constant
awareness that we
are supposed to be always working together, journeying
together toward
our common destination which is the common good, both the
temporal and
the eternal common good.
As such, we need to be
aware of our duty to always
collaborate with others, coordinating and interacting
with them, while
doing the task that is specific to each one of us, so
that the common
good can be achieved.
We can describe this
need as our need for teamwork always,
knowing that we are never working alone, and that even in
our most
personal and hidden work, we should be aware that we are
still working
with others. We should always have the others and their
tasks in mind,
so that we can work as a team to attain our common good.
What we have to avoid
is simply to do our tasks without
thinking of how our tasks can go in tandem with those of the
others so
that the common goal can be achieved. We have to avoid
having an
individualistic and isolationist outlook in life. We need
to reach out
to others in an ever widening circle of concern, from the
mainstream
to the peripheries, always looking for new frontiers.
We are and should be
interested in progress, growth and
development in all aspects of our life that in the end
should lead us
to our final and eternal common good who is God. Thus, everything
should be done to achieve this goal.
For example, we can
establish working linkages with the
others or the other sectors involved in a specific social
environment.
This way, we can have a running monitoring of
developments in that
social environment, giving us ideas of how our duties and
responsibilities can synergize with those of the others.
Yes, we have to
broaden our outlook and develop the
pertinent social skills to facilitate this need for
solidarity. With
all the powerful technical means of communication we now
have, meeting
this need should be greatly facilitated. It should be no
problem. We
should just have the proper attitude and skills.
It is perhaps with
this concern in mind that Pope Francis
seems to be promoting recently the idea of synodality. It
is the
effort to come up with synods, a gathering of bishops and
other people
who are experts in certain fields, to discuss about a
specific issue
or concern with the view of establishing a functional
linkage with the
people involved in that issue or concern.
At the moment, the
Pope has called a Synod on the Amazon, a
big region in Latin America where the Church presence and
her
missionary work has not reached a stable status. The
issues involved
in that synod are broad and complicated, and it is
understandable that
some controversies are stirred there. But the idea of
synodality, I
believe, should be fostered.
We should train
everyone as early as possible about this
need, this duty and responsibility for solidarity. We
have to be wary
of the tendency for people to isolate themselves from the
others,
concerned only about their own personal interest with
nary any
interest for solidarity and the common good.
How ironic it is that
with all the powerful communication
means we have now, many people are getting more
individualistic rather
than being more collaborative with others. There seems to
be
replication of the building of the Tower of Babel and
walls instead of
doors and bridges.
