THE METAMORPHOSIS
By Ernie D. Delfin
“EASTER PEOPLE : LIVING COMMUNITY”
An Inspiring book by Cardinal Luis G. (Chito) Tagle
“I was talking with a young woman who had
just graduated from college. I asked her, “What is your dream in life?” “Father, my dream is I want to have the best
cell phone available!” You call that a
dream? If that is a dream, you will not
have energy, for that the type of dream
that will stir in us the flames of energy!”
Bishop Chito Tagle in the above-mentioned
book
” Where there is no vision, the people perish!”
Proverbs
29:18
Cardinal Chito Tagle is in the
news lately, not only as a member of the Conclave
in the Vatican City that will choose the next pope, but also because he is considered as one of the dozen “candidates” who
might succeed Pope Benedict XVI who appointed him as a cardinal. Just being mentioned as a possibility, to me,
is already a great honor and a source of great pride for all Filipinos everywhere. Like millions of
Filipino Catholics, I am also proud that a Filipino is being considered to
be the next “Pope Paul VII”, although this time may not be his time as he is probably one of the
youngest cardinals in attendance and
also a relatively new cardinal among many much senior “princes of the church”. As of this first voting today, as expected no white smoke
came out from that famous chimney
above the Sistine Chapel in Vatican.
Probably by Palm Sunday, the entire world would know the new pope, Christ’s
successor here on Earth.
I have never met Cardinal
Chito Tagle but I hope to meet him this summer when I visit
the Philippines again, like the time we had breakfast with Cardinal Rosales, as arranged by a long time friend, Lou
Arsenio, who still works in the Archbishop’s Palace in the Walled City. Cardinal Tagle was scheduled to be our featured guest speaker during last
month’s Religious Conference at the Anaheim Convention, but he has to fly to Rome to be a part of the College of
Cardinals. To know more about him, I googled
his name and found out about his book, “Easter People: Living Community” that he penned and published in 1995 when he was still the Bishop
of the Diocese of Imus, Cavite.
I read the
book in just one weekend, as I find it
simply interestingly pragmatic and titillating because his ideas and experiences
somewhat parallel my thoughts in so many
subjects --- from globalization to social justice which reaffirmed my own
values and fortified my life’s mission. I can compare this book to one classic book
that I read decades ago in one sitting to “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Dr. Victor
Frankl, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust.
Quite parallel to the
Cardinal’s anecdotes, I also asked a few female college students in the Philippines about 12 years ago “what is their ambition in life?”
A couple times, the answer was: “To be
a DH (domestic helper) in Italy or in Canada like my aunt or cousin!” Is that the best ambition of our young
people now? I was not only shocked but
saddened because, I never heard that
from my peers about 45 years ago while we were in college! As one of eight working students in a Catholic University and
served as “domestic helpers” (we were called “famulos” (glorified Latin name for altar servers and
servants) who served the Dominican friars daily in the chapel as well as any
church where they were requested to celebrate mass, especially in other colleges
run my Catholic nuns, we never dreamt nor envisioned to become employed as DH especially in foreign lands! We believed it then that our lowly position
as “helpers” or famulo scholars was just a means to a higher end. What a stark difference between the youth
of today vs. my own generation! May the merciful God bless and guide our
youth to have higher aspiration and loftier
ambition, as a nation without a
vision will perish!
Back to the
book. Allow me to quote more from
Cardinal Tagle’s book that is so
beautifully written that paraphrasing it will NOT do justice to his God-inspired-words of
wisdom, phrases that incredibly penetrated
my heart deeply: “I hope I am
mistaken in my fear of a millennium without a clear engaging vision for our
generation and the next. This lack of vision leads to a kind of violence
committed by people who are frustrated and bored. They grasp for control in
their desire to engineer the kind of life they would like to have, a life that
may be beyond their search, but a life
they do not even dare to envision. This vision-less search brings forth
tiredness, tiredness gives birth to frustrations, and frustrations breeds
violence. This violence is coupled with intolerance of the other, which is a
puzzling thing. At a time when globalization
is being sold to us --- as one humanity, no frontiers, no more boundaries, a
global culture, a global civilization, a global economy ---- we become more and
more intolerant of one another, and it is usually the “others” who become
scapegoats for the ills that we find in our society.”
“ We do not want to admit
that life is becoming meaningless. We do not even have the energy to understand
it. It is convenient to just blame “the others” for what ever goes wrong. This
happens among members of families, neighbors, living in the same block, and the
relations between nations.
From his dark and seemingly pessimistic
view of this generation, he wrote: “Is this a very dark description of the
millennium? YES, BUT AT THE SAME TIME,
AS IN THE PASRT LESSONS THAT WE LEARNED AS CHURCH, IT IS USUALLY IN THOSE DARK
UNSETTLING MOMENTS WHEN THE SPIRIT BLOWS MIGHTILY. THE SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT OF
HOPE!” (Capitalization mine)
* * * *
The book then proceeded to more spirit driven ideas how we can heal
our wounded world. The respected
Cardinal has given great ideas that are
not impossible to do, especially when we Christians (that is, followers of Christ) can indeed live out what we hear and learn from the rich
traditions of our Catholic faith. It’s a
sad commentary that our predominantly Catholic Philippines, supposedly one nation under one God is obviously not living out nor practicing her own faith, especially in the social justice arena and
the ugly and slow dispensation of TRUE
justice in the Philippine society
today! Just look at the unconscionable
and evil display of wealth of many
politicians, from the mansions of the Ampatuans to the more subtle illegally
gotten wealth of many trapos (rugs)
among our political leaders amidst the obvious man-made poverty that surrounds
them! It’s a common knowledge that many
a politician’s wealth multiply a million
times after several years in political office. This year is an election year
again and the practice of many
politicians’ utilizing the power
of guns, gold and gang to be re-elected
is still a common knowledge in
many areas especially where there are family dynasties that lord them. The unhealthy fatted pork
(baboy) barrel allowances given lavishly
given to Sinators and Tongressmen in the
billions of pesos every year are a great source of corruption that makes the
rich become richer and the poor becomes poorer.
This pork barrel must be eliminated, but will there be a political will
among the Philippines’ political leaders to discontinue it? Let’s all pray that a miracle could
happen!
In the United States, at least, that is not
quite obvious as there is strict “conflict of interest rules” that governs
(and punishes) illegal acts of elected or appointed officials. In the Philippines, almost every city or province has its own “dynasty” that often controls the wealth, the economic or business life of their turf that often
ignores the basic principle of Christianity of the COMMON GOOD. I have not heard that profound Catholic teaching of the COMMON GOOD
in the Philippines in the recent past! Can someone tell me why?
In the book, Cardinal Tagle has some revealing
and profound anecdotes how our society’s problems are compounded because of FEAR (that could mean False Evidences Appearing
Real). That fear has kept us separated
instead of being in communion
with our brothers and sisters. Our sense
of community and our connectedness as one part and parcel of this ocean of humanity has been broken because
of fear that we may lose control of what we “possess” that is not really ours in the divine sense of
the world. The message in the Good Book,
like the Beatitudes and the many parables that Jesus gave us through his
Apostles, are often forgotten because of our preoccupation to own, to
control our own fate. We are so fearful that we have closed our hearts to enjoy
life freely, to let the Spirit come into our lives.
Cardinal Tagle’s anecdote of a Filipina from the USA going
home to the Philippines and by sheer “accident”
was not enjoying her vacation due to fear of being mugged robbed in
Metro Manila until she completely lost her fear completely and being led (by an
Invisible Spirit) into having a meal with a “poor” family in the squatter area
of Manila , then an only then was she able to connect with others who are in
the same boat of “fear” and brokenness as one human family. The cardinal narrated that it was this experience that the Filipina
lady had the best vacation she ever had!
Somewhat, I can relate to this story
with my own experiences here in the USA. Once, I got into an accident riding my bike in a
huge park. Totally oblivious of my own surroundings and pedaling fast
in an unleveled pathways, I fell down off my bike that really hurt myself which even damaged the bike that it cannot be ridden back home! It was a Mexican “sorbetero” (ice cream vendor) who helped me and in my appreciation I offered
him some money but he adamantly refused
to receive his “reward” for being a good Samaritan! I was humbled and forever changed from that
experience that I never ever expected to happen. Since then,
my mind’s paradigm shifted, (my
own “metanoia”) into more empathy and
understanding about the plight of these “poor” (for lack of better adjective) migrant workers or undocumented foreigners in the United
States. Many of them may not have green cards or legal residents’ paper work but many of them were just trying
to make an honest living to feed their families. They are still our own brothers and sisters if
we were to believe and practice Christ’s teachings.
In the same vein, my volunteer hours in the Orange County Jail as a
member of our Diocese of Orange Prison Ministry have amazingly dissipated a lot of my long held fear of the “dangers” that may be caused by
the inmates or prisoners that we
visit. Our weekly visits providing bible study or communion services to
these prisoners has helped both of us
(the volunteers) and the incarcerated mysteriously forged some degree of “communion” or bond in our
humanity. As Christ followers, we are indeed all one “family” of human beings longing to
belong to one community
that the Risen Christ modeled for us through His apostles and disciples. That popular song of yesteryears made popular
by Barbra Streisand “PEOPLE NEED PEOPLE” succinctly describes this human need to be
happy and to experience real joy. This
gift, however, is available only in the
spirit of love and not out of fear. The Cardinal summed it that this gift is a
gift from the Holy Spirit can be granted
freely y with our willingness to love others with our genuine prayed petitions.
There is so much substance in
this small book that is worth commenting but my space is not enough. I
read many books but I truly enjoyed this book, the way the Cardinal weaved the
lessons of the Gospel (the Good News) with real lives of real people. Like the Good Shepherd,
he really knows his flock. Not all men of the cloth has that deportment
and gift. For some, the title and position for leaders in both in
church and in the secular world caused “separation” from their flock, that led both (the leader and the followers) from
enjoying, grieving, suffering, dreaming and working and celebrating as one vibrant
community in doing things for the common
good.
Dear readers, please go buy, read and share this book, this Easter Week. The Christian reader will not only be reminded of his faith but
may be moved to do MORE to become an active member of his or her own community
of Christian believers.
Happy Easter Week, Easter People!
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Email writer: ernie.delfin@gmail.com and
drbannatiran@yahoo.com
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