DENYING AFFIRMATION; REVERSING NEGATION

            In the book on Being and Essence of St. Thomas Aquinas, he made mention that there are second-class beings which ‘posit nothing in reality’, namely negations and privations. To explain what he means, Aquinas says: “We say that affirmation is the opposite of negation, and that there is blindness in an eye.”¹ The phrase “…affirmation is the opposite of negation…” caught my attention and it made me reflect on our seminary formation.

            We all know that we are all created by God in His likeness. Likeness in the sense that we resemble a small portion of His vast character. Of course, we are not gods. We were even made adopted sons of God through Jesus Christ in our baptism. We are all one children of God created in His likeness, so to speak. We are all called to love Him and serve Him through the ministry of Priesthood, someday. However, we can hear of many sad stories brought about by social division, racial discrimination, class wars, exclusivity and individuality. Even in the seminary setting, seminarians are distinguished from each other. Philosophy students from Theology students. Interns and Externs. Among interns, there are those coming from Rinconada district, others are from Bay, etc. Distinction which sometimes distract the union we are all supposed to partake. Distinctions which sometimes emphasize the strength of one kind and stress the weakness of the other. Distinctions which sometimes result to a destructive oppositions. If it persists, there comes a time when we no longer see each other as the same person called by the same God to love and serve Him in the ministry of priesthood someday, regardless of our identity – of what we are and of who we are, but we see each other as contender in harvesting the fruits of the earth. Our desire to love and serve the Lord is supposed to unite us; but, because of the opposites or distinctions creeping in our minds, we become self-loving and self-serving. Yes, differences abound us. That is a fact we cannot deny. However, amidst diversity, there can be unity. And that can only be realized if we will all discard that distinction or ‘world of opposites’ in our mind set where affirming one does not mean negating the other. After all, we are all called and struggling in responding to His call to love and serve Him through the Holy Order of Priesthood, someday.

LONGING TO BELONG

            When someone is stricken by discomforts in his dealings with other people, oftentimes, he would ask the question: Do I belong here? Such question, in one way or another, is usual for a Benjamin who entered in the seminary. That sense of belongingness is always a prime factor in staying longer in the seminary community. Fr. Norris Clarke, in his book entitled Central Problems of Metaphysics, says that “To be is to belong, to be together, [and] to share with each other.” This sense of affinity, he added, can lead us into an attitude of communion with it, participation in it, which is deeply healing for both body and soul, an antidote for the attitude of distance, separation, and objective analysis that can be one of the effects of scientific and technological approach to the material world – and each other.[1] It appears then that one’s being is identical with belongingness. It is deem necessary that someone is able to cooperate in the seminary community to achieve the fullness of his being as a seminarian. Michael Moga explicated in his book What Makes Man Truly Human that the human self finds realization only within the society. The man who is completely isolated from others would not be able to achieve full selfhood.[2]

            The act of existing is equated by Clarke to active presence.[3] Someone can be considered existing if he is actively cohering to a unity. In a seminary community, working as one is the ideal. Everyone must be doing the same thing at the same time at the same place possible. Everyone is expected to go, grow and glow with Christ along with other seminarians. Everyone are duty-bound to live an upright and moral life with emphasis on chastity, poverty and obedience. Excellence is instilled in everybody’s mind. However, these driving forces, these opportunities to form that sought after unity, are oftentimes the source of great discord in the community. There are more seminarians who are trapped with the fear of castigation and thus they obey and follow without having developed in them either that sense of honor in their good doings or sense of shame in their wrong doings. There are also more seminarians who are good in displaying a convincible high spirituality but deficient in moral probity. In like manner, there are more seminarians who work hard to be on top at the expense of others. And because of these deviants, so to speak, it becomes displeasing to adhere to that unity. There are a few seminarian who would rather work on his own so long as he appears to be cooperating. There are a few who would live a secluded contemplative life as long as he is physically present in praying schedules. There are a few who would rather work silently in mediocrity as long as the output is served. The emergence of these two opposing poles between good habits and bad ones in a community offers nothing but a shallow friendship, a narrow relationship, which no one would even dare to get involved with. And that someone who desires to build his identity as a seminarian, a good one, yearning to be actively present in that community is now at risk of becoming one – either of the many deviants or the few compliants. His addition, active he may be, does not add to the coherence of a unity because there were no unity in the very first place, or if there is any, it is flawed.

            Hence, to regain that harmony, genuine relationship must be established. And that relationship calls for intimacy. For unity without intimacy is cacophony. Mediocrity aside, genuine friendship built on fraternal love must reign in every heart of the seminarians. Christ gave us an example of his great friendship with the Father: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you… I shall not call you servants anymore… I call you friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”[4] If everyone in the seminary community would imitate Jesus in his friendship with his Father and is seen doing the work entrusted by Him, then it is so easy and inspiring to cohere to that genuine unity. Anna Polcina, in her paper entitled Belonging – Longing to Be, states that:

                        …We have to abandon the unhealthy ways we were taught to act in the past and learn to cultivate friends. We must love others without owning, possessing, or exploiting them. We must let others come close and know us as we are while we strive to know them as they are. In so doing, we can achieve an emotional bonding or union with other persons….[5]

            Emotional union with our fellow may sound awkward in a masculine realm but it is only in this union that we can achieve the fullness of our being where we can actively cohere with so much ease, freedom and joy – where belonging in no more just a longing.

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[1] Clarke, Norris, S.J.. Central Problems of Metaphysics. Fordham, New York.

[2] Moga, Michael, S.J..1995. What Makes Man Truly Human? A Philosophy of Man and Society. St. Pauls Philippines.

[3] Clarke, Norris, S.J.. Central Problems of Metaphysics. Fordham, New York.

[4] Cf. John 15:9-15

[5] Polcino, Anna. 1979. Belongin – Longing to Be

EMBODIED SPIRIT THAT WE ARE

It was summer this year when my Parish Priest told me that we will spend our summer vacation visiting the Barangays for catechesis. I was so excited because of the given opportunity to visit all the Barangays of our parish. Atleast, I will get acquainted with the people and places of our parish. More importantly, I will have the opportunity to share the little knowledge I gained in my studying in the seminary. As I get myself busy with the preparation for the talks - mastering the topics (the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Sacraments, the Precepts of the Church, the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary and other basic Prayers), reviewing related documents of the Church (CFC, CCC, etc.), and practicing my gestures, one question struck my mind: “How will I make these people believe that they have to master and put into practice these basic Catholic teachings to strengthen and deepen their Catholic faith?” Although Philippines is still considered a Catholic nation, we cannot deny the fact that only a very little portion lives up the Catholic faith. Nowadays, Sunday mass goers are even pegged at 5 to 8 percentage only of the Catholic population. It appears that most of the Catholics have embraced the human notion of God of mythological element – a protagonist in a magical story. This was the same problem encountered by the old fathers in the ancient time in bringing Christianity to the pagans. But, as they broadened their view to include universal principles to let the Christianity penetrate in, they wanted to provide a rational foundation for their belief in the divinity and so with the universality of the soul. I realized by then to use the ‘soul’ as my platform to launch the catechesis. ‘Soul’ which oftentimes are doubted by many; worse, it is ignored and forgotten by many. People nowadays are observed living as if they do not have souls and that soul is not immortal, if they so believe.

            In the book, History of Ancient Philosophy, Yarza narrated that the death of Socrates deepened Plato’s conviction of the immortality of the soul. He reasons out that since soul has the capacity to know immutable and eternal realities, the soul must be immortal, then. In the same way, Yarza mentioned that St. Thomas Aquinas argues immortality of the soul on the basis of the proportion that must exist between the subject with its object: since the universals are the object of human knowledge, the knowing subject must also be incorruptible.[1] We may say then that even before Jesus was made flesh, soul is already believed in both ends of the world. Further, reading the Holy Bible would even affirm the reality of the soul through its passages which deals with the soul. For one, Matthew10:28 reads: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” Even today, the Catholic Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.”[2] Indeed, soul do exist and the spiritual reality is for real.

            During our Barangay visits this summer, before I start with my catechesis, I always start with the question: “Are we spiritual being (kaluluwang may katawang lupa) or are we human being spirits (katawang lupa na may espiritu)?” People will always answer: “We are human being with  spirits” (Tayo ay tao na may espiritu). And this is the reality we have right now. Most of us dwell too much on our bodies that we neglect our spirituality. People dress beautifully but do not pray intently at masses. People show so much devotion but lacks in life transformation. People spends thousand in extravagant leisure but meagre in giving alms to the poor. Peter Kreeft says in his book, Catholic Christianity, that man is neither merely a body (that is materialism) nor merely a soul (that is spiritualism) nor he is two beings, like ghost in a machine (that is dualism); he is one being n two dimensions, bodily and spiritual. He further explains that the human soul is expressed in the human body and the body is fulfilled by the soul. Human soul, according to Kreeft, is who we are; it is our personality given by God to us at our conception and we shape it through all of life’s choices.[3] Unfortunately, most of us, Catholics, choose the betterment of the body more than the soul. The biase has engulfed us. We do not care enough for the welfare of our soul. As if we will just die and turn into dust after through it all. We are so into the world that we forget our identity as living spirits. Soul is no longer our concern. Genesis 2:7 states clearly: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This is a clear testament that we have souls. Sadly, this is something given less emphasis now even by the chosen few ministers of the church, and seminarians, alike, who enjoy and indulge into the carnal pleasure who are supposed to be the first to detach from worldly satisfaction.

            Yarza explicated that Plato also delves into the question of the soul’s destiny in the afterlife. He gives several descriptions of it, always in reference to a judgement that the soul will have to undergo when a man dies, and the corresponding reward or punishment that the soul receives for the good or evil it did while still on earth.[4] Francis Covey, in his book 7 Habits of Effective People, stresses the importance of “beginning with an END in mind”. We too, in doing our ministry as seminarians, can utilize the same idea to let our faithful begin their journey anew with an END in their mind – with salvation of soul as their ultimate END. And so, Socrates seem to be right when he supposed that the soul must be the center of moral life. [5] For it is in following Jesus that we all live a moral life. And only through Him that we can be reunited with our heavenly Father.

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[1] Yarza, I. (1983). History of Ancient Philosophy. Sinag-Tala Publishers.

[2] cf. CCC 666

[3] Kreeft, P. J. (2001). Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism Beliefs based on the Catechesim of the Catholic Church. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

[4] Yarza, I. (1983). History of Ancient Philosophy. Sinag-Tala Publishers.

[5] Yarza, I. (1983). History of Ancient Philosophy. Sinag-Tala Publishers.