We Will Always Remember

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Spirit Moments

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There we were, eight young men waiting around for somebody to hire us. A learned man came along and said, “Come, I know Someone who has need of your services.” And we followed him with enthusiasm. We worked during that summer in a sugar plantation called Hacienda Violeta in Silay City Negros Occidental, living as sacadas earning a few pesos doing backbreaking work in the sugarcane fields.

Fr. Abe had a radical idea of priestly formation, one that was deeply biblical and rooted in the social realities of the times with a preferential option for the poor. Part of our curriculum was immersion in the lives of people, specially the poor. Our work in Hacienda Violeta was the official start of our experimental seminary. A few months later, martial law was declared in the Philippines.

We had to disband. Our work and contacts with the poor and those working with and for them have landed us in the list of the military’s persons of interest. We each went our ways, fearful and worried of being picked up and landing in the many detention centers put up by the martial law regime.

Three of our group went all the way and headed for the hills. Rey and Joe joined the armed struggle after we disbanded. Rey was a fresh graduate who had spent time working with the poor in the slums of Tondo. He was salvaged by a Zombie (a government deep penetration agent). Joe was a seminarian from Iloilo, simple but intense in his commitment to social change. He was killed in an encounter with government troops. Martin was an audacious spirit who had literally lived the life of the urban poor. He spent some time pushing a cart and picking up whatever he can from garbage dumps and making a living out of it. He just disappeared one day and we never again heard from or about him.

Three of our group eventually did become priests, having returned to their traditional seminaries after we disbanded. Francis continued his studies abroad and is now working in the Lord’s vineyard in the US. Joey returned to his congregation and is now a missionary in Japan. Nelson was ordained in his home province of Iloilo and is now the pastor in one of the parishes there.

Benjie and I ended up in the academe and the corporate world. We taught in the two leading business schools in the country. He is a consultant with several government agencies and NGOs. I have been an executive in several corporations.

I have tried during my engagement with the Academe and the corporate world  to live the ideals, values and principles we championed during those days we lived with Fr. Abe, working to bring about just relationships in society and organizations. I have lived and shared these commitments in ways I can and with people who would allow me into their lives.  I have not always been successful. There have been instances I allowed myself to be co-opted by the system. But slowly, things are somehow changing and getting better. I am inspired and humbled by colleagues from those days whose fire for the things we treasured and struggled for then has not dimmed in their hearts. Nag-aalab pa rin. They are just as active today as they were then in the struggle and in the movement.

We have a saying in Filipino, “Ang taong hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.” which roughly translates “He who does not know how to look back to where he came from will never make it to where he is bound for.” Martial Law was the darkest period in our nation’s history. There are some today who would revise history and paint those times as our golden age. This is totally a perversion of our past. If we forget the horrors and the iniquity of those times, we are building on shifting sands. It is in remembering the tortures and the sufferings of those years that we will learn our lessons and build a better world for the future.

The Lord is near to all who call upon him.
Psalm 145

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
Going out about nine o’clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.’
So they went off.
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o’clock, and did likewise.
Matthew 20:1-5

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Passages

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Spirit Moments

Manila and the Philippines have just gone through another devastating calamity. Typhoon Mario has inflicted yet another traumatic calamity on our people. But this will pass away and people will soon be back to their normal lives.

Nature may seem destructive at times. But with the passage of time, nature gets everything done. In time, seeds sprout to become plants and trees. Plants bloom to give flowers and food. Trees grow and mature to bear fruits. The fields again become green and the skies become blue. The seas teem with fish and the air with birds. The mountains stand majestic and the meadows sweeping, rolling. Even with man’s irresponsibly polluting the environment, nature will renew itself and will always become better.

And so it is with the vagaries of life. There are a lot of problems besetting mankind today: wars, hunger, oppression, abuse and all kinds of evil, both the usual and the unthinkable. Yet, through the passage of time, life always become better and richer. Today is a lot better than it was a thousand years ago, or a few hundred years ago, or a generation ago, or even just a decade ago. In spite of the usual bumps on the road, somehow mankind has always managed to negotiate passages  through one portal after another to a higher quality of life.

And so it is in my life. It has been one passage after another. At birth, I made the passage from life in my mother’s womb to a life in a family. And the family I grew up in can be seen in the person that I am today.

Then, I started going to school and I made the passage from life in the family to a life in a community. And many of the friends I truly treasure today are the classmates, teachers and the people I got to know in the schools I attended.

Then, I started working and pursuing my careers. I made the passage from being dependent to becoming independent. And the comfort and achievements I enjoy today are the fruits of my work and my careers.

Then I got married and I made the passage from a life with many options to a life committed to one person. And it was then that I learned, enjoyed and lived what unconditional love means. What it means to bring new life and nurture it into this world. I experienced joy and  happiness I never imagined at all happening to me.

A few years ago, I retired and made the passage from a life of clearly defined work to a life asking for new creativity and wisdom. I now have some resources and all the time to do all the things I dreamt of dreaming in my younger years. Oh, there are days that are boring and even frustrating but still in all I have this feeling that simply would not go away. I feel that things will keep on getting better and that there are more exciting passages to make ahead of me. The most exciting of course is the final passage from this life.

I will walk in the presence of God, in the light of the living.
Psalm 56

When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another
journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable.
“A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled,
and the birds of the sky ate it up.
Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew,
it withered for lack of moisture.
Some seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew,
it produced fruit a hundredfold.”
After saying this, he called out,
“Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
Luke 8:4–9

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The Filipino Soul

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Spirit Moments

Even as I write this, thousands are again huddled in evacuation centers in the Philippines – cold, wet, and hungry. Many have been driven out of their homes by typhoon Mario which has inundated the low-lying areas in the main island of Luzon. This has been our life in the Philippines ever since I could remember. And somehow these natural calamities, specially the storms, have become more frequent and more severe in recent years.

The Philippines will always be a paradise for me. This is where I was born and grew up. When I think of the Philippines, I see all her beautiful places, the wonderful people I have lived and been to these places with, the memorable experiences we went through together and the lovely memories that have made up my life. But this delightful paradise sits at the crossroads of calamities and disasters. The Philippines is located right smack at the center of typhoon alley. We get enough storms every year to go through the whole alphabet naming them. This is exacerbated by the fact that most of our coastal areas are below sea level, notably the capital city Manila. There are a string of live volcanoes from north to south. In fact, Mt. Mayon is now acting up again. And the cataclysmic eruption of Mt Pinatubo is still within living memory of many. Added to this natural calamities are the man-made disasters like the widespread floods and massive landslides caused by the degradation of our forest cover because of unmitigated logging.

And yet, Filipinos have remained happy, contented and ever hopeful of the future. As I imagine my countrymen huddled wet, cold and hungry in the many evacuation centers, I can also hear their songs and prayers that are always and forever on their lips. In good times and in bad times, Filipinos have these two jewels to rely and fall back on: our music and our faith.

Not a week passes by that a video of another new Filipino singing sensation is posted on YouTube. A number of them will go on to be a world-class act, like Arnel and Charice.  When we Filipinos are happy we sing; when we are sad we sing; at work, when we are busy we sing; when we have nothing better to do we sing; when we feast and celebrate, we sing; when we are hungry and have nothing to eat we sing.

Life in the Philippines is punctuated with religious feasts and prayers. There are fiestas celebrated the whole year round in honor of the patron saints of the different localities. Every province has a favorite Marian devotion. Whether we are sad or happy, we pray. In hunger or in plenty, we pray. In good times and in good times, we pray. When we leave the house, we pray. Even when we just pass by a church, we pray. When we are confident and moving forward, we pray. When we are stuck and do not know what to do, we pray.

I may not sing very well but I love music with a passion. I try to pray everyday but it is always a struggle. And like most Filipinos, I cling to music and my faith to keep me going in this ever changing world in which we live in.

Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.
Psalm 17

Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another,
preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Accompanying him were the Twelve
and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza,
Susanna, and many others
who provided for them out of their resources.
Luke 8:1-3

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Sinnerman

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Spirit Moments

I have always been inspired by the notion of changing the world to make it a better place. I dreamt of being part of the great adventure of creating a new and just society in my youth. I was willing to destroy the old to be able to bring in the new. I was fired with the enthusiasm of youth. I got involved with a progressive group, several of whom gave up their lives for what we believed in and worked for. Those were the halcyon days of romantic idealism. Rather naive and simplistic now that I have the experience of old age.

I learned from some wise man that in the end we realize that the only real change we are capable of is to change one’s self. In my career, I did help bring about organizational change the companies and institutions I worked with. I was known as a change management professional. I may also have helped some of the people I worked with bring about changes in their personal and professional lives. But now after all these years, the organizational changes I may have implemented have been worked over by later and other change managers. And the people whose lives I might have touched have moved on to touch other lives and remember me only in the far recesses of their memories.

Even now, in my advancing and advanced years, I realize though I am still changing, a work-in-progress. I am sometimes horrified at how many faults and shortcomings I still have to work on. I often wonder why and how far I have gotten in my life and career with so many imperfections. Every day, I wake up to become more aware that I am in need of redemption and salvation. I need to be saved, primarily from myself. Yes, I am a sinner.

There is so much good still to be done and I can do more. There is so much beauty still to delight in and I can appreciate and give it expression. There is so much truth still to learn and I can help proclaim it. There is some of these beyond my reach and capability. But sometimes, I am just plain flaky and I give in to my baser tendencies or take the path of least resistance or the method that requires of me the least effort.

Prayer time is when I become deeply aware of my sins and shortcomings, my flakiness and mediocrity. In prayer, I weep over my weaknesses, imperfections and transgressions. It is also in prayer that I come to hear the voice that tells me, “Your sins are forgiven; go, live in peace.” And there but for the grace of God go I.

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 118

Jesus spoke up and said to him,
‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’
‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’
‘A certain creditor had two debtors;
one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
When they could not pay,
he cancelled the debts for both of them.
Now which of them will love him more?’
Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’
And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’
Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon,
‘Do you see this woman?
I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet,
but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
You gave me no kiss,
but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.
You did not anoint my head with oil,
but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven;
hence she has shown great love.
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’
Luke 7:36-50

 

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A Nation of Singles

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Spirit Moments

I read in the news yesterday that the US is now officially a nation of singles. There are now more single households. I read the news with a lot of sadness. This emerging social change is going to be as catastrophic, if not even more so, than climate change.

If most people live by themselves, is it any wonder there is a lot more lonely people than ever before? Are some people so engrossed by themselves or whatever they are doing that they do not have the time for others anymore? Or, do some people think of themselves so low that they feel they have nothing worth sharing with others?

Is a person living alone a family? What happens now to the family? What drives people to live alone? Are people living alone doing so because of choice or circumstances? If by choice, is it  today’s crass materialism that drove people to do so? Or is it that people living alone are driven to even higher levels of conspicuous consumerism?

How will people learn to live in brotherhood and harmony, if they never experience living with a brother or a sister? How will people learn and experience unconditional love if they never have to care for and raise children? How can one learn to communicate if the only intimate interaction one has is with a pet or with virtual people on social media?

Imagine a world without families. Humanity will slowly die out. It may not be a nuclear holocaust nor the dreadful weather that will undo humanity but we will simply peter out into extinction.

In the Philippines, the government has been trying to rein in population growth for years as a means to eradicate poverty. And indeed, because of poverty and the scarcity of resources, people have no choice but to stay together in one household. To my mind, it is better to live with others in very modest even wretched conditions rather than wallow in comfort and luxury all by myself.

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Psalm 33

Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
Luke 7:31-32

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Choosing Life

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Spirit Moments

Life is such a wonderful present
and its end, death, is such an awful prospect.
Everything people do is to sustain life
and to make it longer and better.
Farmers work their fields to grow food that will sustain life.
Carpenters guild house to shelter life.
Doctors heal to protect life and to prolong it.
Teachers show and share the skills needed in life.
All of us contribute to nurture life
by doing whatever it is we do.

Sadly though, there are others who would destroy life
or deny it of others.
Out of spite, out of anger, out of hate.
Yet in the very act of destroying it
they affirm its intrinsic value,
that which they deny of another person.

I choose to be an agent and instrument of life.
I will celebrate it even in the smallest things that I do.
I will respect it in every living creature that shares the earth with me.
I will refuse to be an agent of hate and destruction.
I will choose to be a force for goodness.
I will never agree to be an instrument of evil

We are his people: the sheep of his flock.
Psalm 100

When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming,
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst,”
and “God has visited his people.”
Luke 7:13-16

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Paradoxes and Life

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Spirit Moments

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world we live in. For all our pretensions to rationality, men are often irrational in their actions and behavior. It is absurd that modern man, who has the most comforts and conveniences than any other generation that has lived on earth, is the also most anxious, angry and afraid among those who have walked this earth. It is absurd that the most affluent nation on earth spends more on prisoners than on educating its youth. It is absurd that after all the centuries learning about the value and dignity of the human persons we are still capable of atrocities that would shock even the most savage of the barbarian hordes from the past.

Life is indeed full of contradictions, paradoxes and incongruities. There is the constant rhythm of push and pull, up and down, darkness and light. The constant tug of war between good and evil, the perpetual sequence of creation and destruction, the uncertainty of living between the reality of birth and the certainty of death. All this rhythmic beating moves in a spiral, ever upward and paradoxically ever more complex and ever better. Miss the beat and the spiral plunges into the depths, death and destruction.

The ultimate paradox is the Fool in the Hill, with the cross the ultimate symbol of the absurd. He promised comfort and healing. But to anyone who would follow him, He challenged them to take up their cross daily. He loved to talk about His kingdom as a feast and a banquet. But to one who wanted to be good, He asked him not only to follow the commandments but to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. He said to forgive and to love one’s enemies. But He would condemn anyone of adultery who would just as look at another woman with lustful desire. He taught those who listened to Him to love and honor their parents. But He gave nothing but heartaches to His own, specially His mother, from even his childhood years.  Mary is our model on how we should “treasure up all these things and ponder them in our heart.”

It is precisely by pushing things forward that He shows us how to keep the spiral of life, the vortex of our existence ever moving forward and upward to the next level. It is by taking up my cross that I am lifted up to the next level. It is what I give away and not what I keep for myself that define the fullness and value of my life. It is by filling the milieu around me with good thoughts and good behavior that I can change myself. And in changing myself change a small part of the world I live in.

Life is incredibly complex and also incredibly wonderful. In fact, it is awesome. What we are living through is a sacred mystery. And it is an incredible God (who became a man!) who is showing me the way.

To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!
Psalm 40

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
John 19:25-27

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The Cross and the Apple

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Spirit Moments

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It used to be that the apple was the symbol of a healthy lifestyle, as in “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” When I was growing up, Apple was the symbol the greatest music of all time – the Beatles. Today Apple is the world’s most valuable company and they have just taken the world by storm again with the recent announcement of two new iPhones, Apple Pay and the Apple Watch. Apple has become the symbol of everything that is desirable and leading edge in today’s technology. Apple has been iconic of the tech boom that has made the Silicon Valley the center and fountainhead of technological innovations. It has become the primary icon of our times.

Blaise Pascal was 17th-century genius who was a scientist, an inventor, a mathematician and a theologian all at the same time. His invention of the first calculator laid done the groundwork for the eventual development of the computer, the driving force behind the information technology being spawned and spewing out of the Silicon Valley. He was a devout Christian but some where along the way he got caught up by the worldly pursuits in which he excelled. Aside from building Pascalines, those early calculators, he also produced defining work of hydrodynamics in the field of the physical sciences and the theory of probability in the field of mathematics. Experiencing a conversion, he went on to write his great theological works, The Provincial Letters and Pensées. It took this man of science to see the deep mystery of our human existence: “The Heart has its reasons which Reason does not know.”

The same landscape, where Apple and Pascal’s seminal work are alive, is dotted with another unlikely symbol. All along the California coast, from San Diego all the way up to San Francisco Solano are the crosses that mark the missions established by Junipero Serra and his companions. In a very symbolic way, there is an serendipitous converge in this California landscape of the strongly scientific and the deeply mystical.

In ancient Rome, the cross was a symbol of shame and abomination – it being the utter punishment for the worst of criminals. It was so degrading it was never used on Roman citizens but reserved only for non-Romans, i.e. the barbarians. One man took it up and it became the symbol of total and unconditional love. It was a symbol of oppression. One man took it up and transformed it into the sign of our ultimate liberation.

Life is so rich and wonderful there is no putting limits to it. An apple, so ordinary and commonplace, becomes the symbol of what is good and desirable about the technology-powered and information-driven world we live in. The cross, so demeaning and so brutal, is transformed to become the symbol of everything that is noble and life-giving in men.

Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Psalm 78

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:13-17

 

 

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Spirit And Life

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Spirit Moments

I am more than just my physical body. There is a part of me that is not material. My body, because it is made up of matter, ties me down to the material world.  I am earth-bound and I cannot live outside of this earth. I also intimately know there is a part of me that is not earth-bound. With my mind and imagination, I can scale heights of the heavens and plumb the depth of the seas. I can be anyone, anywhere, anytime, – if I so choose. I can choose. Because of my will, I can break free from whatever shackles that may tie me down. My body may be in chains or in prison, but there is something vital within me that remains free. Call it soul, anima. Call it spirit, animus.

I think of two friends in intimate conversation: sharing, affirming, confiding, talking heart to heart. They are in an animated conversation. I love watching ballgames live. There is a certain animus in the the arena that one does not catch when watching the game on TV. When people live together, they create a certain spirit out of their common and shared experience. Thus, we can speak of the Filipino spirit or the American spirit or the German spirit or even the Asian mystique. People living through the same times and age create a palpable and defining spirit or mood of that particular period. The Germans have a very descriptive word for it: zeitgeist.

Yes, I am a physical and material being. But I am also a spiritual being. My world is not just the physical world. It is also a world animated by a real spirit. I help create the spirit/animus and soul/anima of my environment and milieu. At the same time, I am deeply influenced by it. Growing up, most of what we learn is caught from the environment. If I do acts of love, then the spirit of love animates my milieu. If I engage in hate and anger then their spirit will animate the world I live in. If I act in a generous and giving manner, then generosity and abundance will light up my environment. If I am greedy and selfish, I help create a world driven by greed and selfishness. Yes, truly I can create the world I live in.

To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
Psalm 116

Jesus said to his disciples:
“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes,
nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,
but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” 
Luke 6:43–45

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Agere Contra

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Spirit Moments

I often notice that the things I hate and find offensive in other people are the very same things I hate most in myself. Sometimes, I am not even aware that the things I would correct in others are the very same things I need to correct in myself. It is foolish pride and misplaced vainglory that make me see the splinter in my brother’s eye but not see the log in my own. It is so much easier on my ego to see what is wrong in others rather than admit the same things of myself.

St. Ignatius, having lived a life of abandon and licentiousness in his younger years, disciplined himself of such tendencies by going against the habits he had developed over the years. Agere contra. To act against. Instead of seeing the shortcomings of others, I will choose to see only the goodness in others and not their faults, many of which I know are mere projections of my own. Instead of trying to correct others, I will always be humbled by my shortcomings, ready and willing to admit them, if not in front of others at least in the silence and solitude of my prayers. I will choose to see what is right and beautiful in the people and places around me. I will work hard to correct what is not right and ugly in my own life.

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Psalm 84

Jesus told his disciples a parable:
“Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?”
Luke 6:39-42

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