Siftings
The National Laity Week Celebration
It is a symptom of religious malaise that many people did not know or cared to know about the Catholic's Church's move to harness people's initiative towards awareness of corruption and graft in the government. I am referring to the National Laity Week Celebration on Sept. 29-Oct.1 with the theme, The National Laity for Honesty and Integrity in Governance (or something like that), which kicked off last Monday with a multilingual high mass at Molo's Sta. Ana Church, complete with songs rendered by the parish church choir under the direction of parish priest Fr. Tom Delicana, concelebrated by church hierarchy of bishops and archbishops from across the nation, with main celebrant the Most Rev. Archbishop of Jaro Angel Lagdameo, and attended by delegates from parishes all over the country. Those who were not delegates but came in to hear mass did so because of the event announced in the previous Sunday's sermon by Fr. Tom. There was very little or no media hype of such an event which could have brought scores of people to Molo Church in the old days when the Church was the most influential event-maker in cities of this mostly Catholic country.
It is sad that most of us think of the Catholic Church as the no.1 deterrent to the passage of the bill that would legalize abortion. While the Church remains pro-life, it would always say no-no to abortion. As I looked towards the altar and saw these dignitaries solemnly doing their thing, so to speak, and standing pat on their pro-life stand, I could not help but agree, in principle. The Catholic Church's history is replete with life-affirming struggles and sacrifices for the cause of justice and freedom, and it is unthinkable that it would sanction the taking of young lives even in the womb. It was even more unthinkable for me as I listened to the beautiful voices of the choir singing hymns in English, Filipino, Hiligaynon, and Latin, realizing that I was witness to the beautiful mixing of these languages in this solemn high mass! I remembered that the opening hymn was in Hiligaynon, the Gloria and Miserere in Latin, the offertory song in Filipino, and the Archbishop's homily was in English! The effect was, somehow, seamless Art!
At this point, I would like to share with my readers the gist of the Archbishop's homily. Contrary to my expectations of a politically colored sermon, the Archbishop gave what he called a talk on the 7 points of a highly effective people-to-people interaction, culled from a book whose author I still have to check out (I didn't have time today). Without much ado, the Archbishop started off with no.1 point, which he called the Principle of Freedom and Responsibility. A person has to be pro-active; although people cannot control what happens to them, we can control our responses to situations through our attitudes. The 2nd point: Begin with the end in mind, predict the future. Make plans for the future you want and envision your role in it. The 3rd point: Put first things first. This is where the Principle of Management is put to use: Manage yourself first before you start managing others. The 4th point: Think with Winning in mind. Cultivate interpersonal relations, Concentrate ob helping at least one individual and that is a step to helping others in a big way. This is a Win-Win situation. The 5th point: Seek first to understand others rather than to be understood. This is the secret of Emphatic Communication. We know that so many people are hung up on being misunderstood. Why do we insist on having our way all the time? The 6th point: Synergize. Continue the emphatic communication by working with other people in a community of volunteer work. This is the principle of creative cooperation. And last point: Sharpen the soul. This is the principle of self-renewal, of continuous self-improvement as we go on with our daily tasks, duties, and responsibilities. These points are simple and easily remembered. But do we take them seriously? Especially in the light of what this celebration is all about?
I would like to end here with a little prayer for the laity, and that means all of us. As we await Christmas and what it means to Christians all over the world, let us remember that the Lord's being reborn every year is always a call to renewal and new hopes. This year 2008 is limping to a close, with so much sorrow and pain as baggage: the typhoons and the floods they spawned, ships sinking, people dying before their time, the Mindanao problem, the endless war in Iraq, the financial crisis which is making the prospects of Christmas bleaker than bleak for many of out unfortunate brothers and sisters. But there is a lesson or a prayer in all this and it is not new. It is never new at all. It is simply: Lord, please continue to give us the Hope that you died on the Cross to give us, and the Courage to use that Hope for the Good of the whole world.
If I have become sentimental, blame it on that beautiful, music-filled high mass to celebrate National Laity Week! Amen.