Bakong Arog Kaiyan an Dapat Saindo

 

Giya sa Prayer-Meeting nin mga Saradít na Komunidad nin Pagtubód (SAKOP) para sa semana kan Octubre 20-26, 2024. Basahon an Evangelio gikan sa Marcos 10,35-45 (Ika-29 Domingo sa Ordinariong Panahón - B).

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Sa Evangelio nagdolok an magtugang na Santiago asín Juán sa satong Kagurangnan Jesu Cristo tanganing hagadon na pag-abót Niya sa kamurawayan, sindang duwá magtukaw sa kataed Niya, an sarô sa tóo, asín sarô sa walá. Boót sabihon na sindang magtugang an magin pinakaoróg sa gabós na mga disipulos. Kan maaraman iní kan mga pag-iriba sa Doce, nagkadaragit sinda sa duwá.

An Gawè nin Kinâban.

An sitwasyon na iní ginibo ni Jesús na patugmadan sa pagtukdô sainda kun anó an mahalagá sa Kahadean, na ibá sa gawè nin kinâban. Tinugon Niyá sinda na daí mag-arog sa mga pamayó kan mga pagano na naghahadê-hadean asín dinadaóg-daog an mga nasasakopan ninda, sa saláng paghonà na an kadakulaan nasa kapangyarihan.

Napapanahón ngonian an pagiromdóm na iní. Lalò na ta dakúl na mga pamayó kan satóng banwaan an garó na mga hadè-hadè sa mga tawong dapat kutâ nindang piglilingkodán; ginigibong normál na an korupsyón asín pag-abuso sa kapangyarihan; ginagamit an batás asín mga ahensya kan gobyerno para haleon an mga kalaban sa pulitika; asín sinasadiri an mga ayuda halè sa gobyerno para bakalón an boót nin mga botante.

Kayâ sa panahón nin eleksyon, marhay gibohon na panukol asín panimbang an mga Tugon nin Diós kun siisay an maninigong botohan. Siisay daw sa mga kandidato an mapasár maski na saná sa tolóng Tugon na mga iní? Daí ka manggadán, o magsuporta sa mga paragadan, o pugolan na makamít an hustisya para sa mga ginaradán. Daí ka maghâbon, o makinabang sa hinâbasan lalò na kun halè sa kabán nin banwaan. Daí ka magsaksing-putik laban sa kapwa, o magpalakóp nin disinformación, kaputikan, asín panlalansé.

An Gawè kan Kahadean.

Sa Marcos 10,43-44, si Jesús nagtukdô sa Saiyang mga disipulos: “Bakóng arog kaiyán an dapat mangyari saindo, kundî an boót magin dakulà sa saindo, magigi nindong paralingkod, asín an boót magin enot sa saindo, magigin oripon nin gabós.” An gawè kan Kahadean nin Diós iyó na an kadakulaan nasa paglingkod na bakóng makasadiri.

An tunay na paglingkod mapakumbabâ. An pagpakumbabâ bakô pagmenos kan sadiring kakayahan – kaluyahan iyán nin boót. An pagpakumbabâ bakô pag-silencio o daí pagsuróg kun may inaapi o napapabayaan – pagigin cobarde saná iyán. Kundî an pagpakumbabâ iyó an pag-enot kan karahayan kan kapwa kisa sadiri. An pagpakumbabâ pagpapakatotoo sa sadiri nin huli ta kita linaláng nin Diós sa pagkamoot, asín an totoong namomoot inienot an namomòtan kisa sadiri.

An tunay na paglingkod nagdudusay kan sadiri – siring kan pagsaksi ni Jesús tanganing magin pangarogan kan Saiyang mga disipulos sa gabós na panahón. Sa Marcos 10,45, sinabi Niyá: “An Akì nin Tawo daí nagdigdi tanganing paglingkodan, kundi tanganing maglingkod asín idusay an buhay Niyáng pantubós sa dakúl.”

Sa hurí, an satong mga desisyon sa buhay, sa pulitika man o sa ibá pang mga aspeto, minapahilíng kun arín na gawè an satong pinapaoróg – an sa kinâban o an sa Kahadean nin Diós. Sabi pa ni Jesús sa Mateo 6,33: “An Kahadean nin Diós enoton ta, siring man an Saiyang katanosan, asín an gabós idudugang na saná.” Kayâ bâgo pa kitá magpilì kun siisay sa mga kandidato an tunay na mga pamayóng-lingkod, pilíon ta ngûna na magtalubò kitá na magin siring sa satong Kagurangnan na nagpakumbabâ, naglingkod, asín nagdusay kan sadiri.

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GIYA SA PAGHIRÁS SA SADÍT NA KOMUNIDAD O PAMILYA | Maghirás nin ehemplo nin mga tawong nagin marhay na pamayóng-lingkod, o personál na experiencia nin paggibo nin gawè nin sarong pamayóng-lingkod.

PASUNÓD-SUNÓD KAN WEEKLY SAKOP/FAMILY PRAYER-MEETING | Kumustahan/Pamiridbidan • Disposition to Prayer / Silence • Gathering Song • Opening Prayer • Gospel Reading • Reflection • Sharing • Scripture Response • Prayers of the People • Closing Prayer • (Spontaneous and Our Father) • Closing Song

My Public Narrative

"I will give you shepherds after my own heart" (Jer 3,15).

The Story of I.  The calling to the priesthood came to me, I think, already during childhood. I practically grew up breathing Catholic – my parents taught me the basic prayers, we went to Church on Sundays as a family, I went to Catholic schools from kindergarten to graduate school. We were not rich or even lower middle-class, my father just had a high regard for Catholic education, and he struggled to send all of his four children to Catholic schools.

My initial motivations then were the high regard our large extended family accorded to priests and the way he commanded attention from everyone at Mass on Sundays. A wizened spiritual director in later years would tell us, we all start with impure motivations – the important thing is how we let grace purify our hearts in the end.

It came as no surprise to almost everybody who knew me then when I entered the seminary at the age of 12, a series of institutions that would be my home for the next 13 years, excluding two years off after college. To tell the story of those years would take much time, and so I would gloss over the adventures and experiences, the lessons learned and friendships bonded, by describing seminary formation as integral, that is, it is focused on developing well-rounded persons (or at least, our formators tried to do so). To put it simply, it is designed to make us first connect with our true selves, so we can have a meaningful relationship with God as a person, and also with the realities of society and the Church. To put it with even greater simplicity, formation was about getting us fall in love.

The Jesuit Pedro Arrupe said it most succinctly: “Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.”

The Story of Us. As celibates, it is most important that we don’t lose our romanticism. And so I fell in love with God and His people, this “living, pulsing, sinning people of God”. Why? To use the words of another Jesuit, Walter Burghardt, because: “For all the Catholic hate, I experience here a community of love. For all the institutional idiocy, I find here a tradition of reason. For all the individual repressions, I breathe here an air of freedom. For all the fear of sex, I discover here the redemption of my body.  In an age so inhuman, I touch here the tears of compassion. In a world so grim and humorless, I share here rich joy and laughter. In the midst of death I hear here an incomparable stress on life. For all the apparent absence of God, I sense here the real presence of Christ."

I was doing my studies in theology while the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the West raged on. Like many people, my generation of seminarians asked how those Church leaders involved were able to live with themselves knowing that they let those abuses happen, and chose to protect the Church as an institution first before the little ones who consider the Church a home. In this country at that time, we were dismayed by the way some of our bishops allowed themselves to be co-opted and corrupted by a widely mistrusted political leadership.

Yet when we went to our apostolate areas, to the slums of the city where the urban poor lived, we saw the faces of the great Body of Christ and experienced how relevant the faith and the faith-community meant to them. When I got back to my provincial diocese, I was struck by the dedication and humble service of so many fellow priests and lay leaders, kindred spirits – many of them committed, hardworking, and palpably holy.

I am not saying these things as a way to differentiate the good and the bad within the Church, much less to set myself apart. For even in the most well-intentioned priest or lay faithful among us, the seeds of hypocrisy and clericalism can grow, the corruption of pride and entitlement can happen. I feel a close affinity to Pope Francis' description of himself as "a sinner on whom the Lord has turned His gaze".

The Story of Now. Today, under the pastoral leadership and witness of this same Pope, I sense the Spirit of hope breathing much needed change throughout the Church. Yet there is much work to be done. And it is not about redeeming an institution or making faith more relevant. These are not our unique value propositions. It is about doing our perennial mission, the one given to the Church as a gift, which is also a task: preaching the Good News of salvation. It is communicating to the world the powerful message that there is a God who loves them, and that this love is especially directed to the last, the least, and the lost. And the manner of delivery is two-fold, best summed-up by a master communicator during his time, St. Francis of Assisi: “At all times preach the Gospel, sometimes with words.”

It is for this purpose that I came to AIM, to study Development Management in order to learn new tools of the trade and apply them to ministry. I like to think of what I'm doing as getting involved in the great and noble project of developing further the technology of evangelization. A priest-friend once told me sagely, “When you introduce something new, your community may either see you as an innovator or an anomaly. If you are seen as an innovator, it means they accept the change that you bring; if you are regarded as an anomaly, brace yourself for some challenging times ahead.”

I’m not sure whether I would like to be branded as an innovator, much less an anomaly. I don’t want to be tagged as a reformer or a technocrat either. Like most priests, I just want to witness to a life of faithful service. It may just happen that sometimes such a witnessing may take the form of introducing technology and innovation, or advocating for greater lay participation in Church leadership, more transparency in finances, and a stronger sense of accountability.

Another wise and holy man of this age, Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI, in his book, Secularity and the Gospel, wrote about what the Church (and the world) needs today: “We are not lacking for solid ideas. What we are lacking however, is fire, romance, aesthetics, as these pertain to our faith and ecclesial lives. What needs to be inflamed today inside religion is its romantic imagination. Solid ideas and solid programs alone are not enough. We need someone to re-inflame the romantic imagination of Christianity, a new Francis, a new Clare, a new Augustine, a new Thomas More, a new Ignatius, a new Therese of Lisieux.”

I’m not talking about me now. This call is about you. In fact, this is about everyone of us. Maybe some of you are being called to the priesthood, or to the religious life. Maybe some of you are called to the great vocation of parenthood, which is about reflecting God’s love to your children. Maybe you are called to bring Christ’s presence to your office or place of business, Christ’s wisdom to your boardroom or classroom, Christ’s care to the ER or to the grassroots. Maybe you are called to win the marketplace for Christ. Whatever calling you feel will bring a deeper meaning and profound joy to your life – will you let the Spirit inflame you with His romantic imagination, so through you and each one of us, the world may also catch the fire of God’s love?

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This is originally written as a requirement for the Bridging Leadership class for the Master in Development Management 2013 course at Asian Institute of Management - Center for Development Management (AIM-CDM), Makati City. I may also use this as a testimony in the context of a small faith community or for an audience of seekers, discerning whether they are called to the priesthood, the religious life, or lay ministry within the Church.

Leadership Lessons from N.R. Narayana Murthy

N. R. Narayana Murthy, Indian businessman and co-founder of Infosys (third largest IT company in the world) delivered a talk at AIM last February 21. He impressed upon his audience some valuable lessons on being a successful entrepreneur and leader of industry. So what makes a great leader? Here is my personal integration on how N.R. Narayana Murthy counts the ways.

Character. Good leaders have a clear grasp of what they wish to achieve (their vision), who they are, and what they can offer. Murthy sums this up in a concept: a clear and concise differentiated value proposition, i.e, what an individual or organization can offer that sets it apart from the rest. Add to it a firm commitment to hard work and integrity, and a capacity to sacrifice personal interest for the good of the organization or society. When people see these traits in leaders, they tend to be more attracted to the vision they share, for they lead by example.

A properly-formed character is also the best safeguard against the debilitating effects of mindsets, which come from the data base of our experiences that coagulate into supposedly proven ways of doing things that lull us to complacency and encourage mediocrity. A good leader committed to change is able to recognize innovative ideas and liberate them from mindsets.

Courage. Murthy actually identifies courage as the most important attribute of a good leader. This means the courage to dream big, take moral decisions, implement strategy, go against conventional wisdom, and travel roads less travelled, or in some cases untraveled. If entrepreneurship is about transforming ideas into wealth, of making the implausibly impossible possible, then courage is indeed the defining trait of the entrepreneur. It is also about knowing that subscribing to a value system entails cost. Taking a risk because one’s value system demands it is the true test of courage.

Creativity. Murthy calls it the drive for innovation. A good leader should know how to dream, and be able to convince others that his dream is worth taking – but he should also be open to new ideas. The best way to generate new ideas is to work in improving competence, gaining crucial experience and knowledge in the process. 

For the entrepreneur, creativity may mean the constant search for that which will make his products or services better, faster, cheaper. This is also a good rule for development work. The conviction that there ought to be a better way of delivering services, recognizing rights, or empowering people is the starting point in the journey of transforming inequality to equity.

               

Care for Persons. Murthy jokingly talks about his transformation from a confused socialist to a compassionate capitalist (as some have described him), but he does walk his talk when it comes to his concern for people. He calls it generosity. At the outset, it makes good business sense to care of people – clients, partners, and employees alike. It ensures repeat business, investor confidence and employee loyalty. More than these however, values such as fairness and transparency, courtesy and humility, and generosity of heart (“praise in public, prescribe in private, take blame for failures”) builds people’s trust in the leader and self-esteem and confidence in themselves. 

At the crucial nexus between having the vision to effect change and other people’s willingness to follow or, better yet, take such vision as their own, lies the trust that they have on the one carrying the message. The truism “the medium is the message” may already be a cliché but still rings ever true today: people will accept and carry the message for as long its messenger proves himself genuinely trustworthy and his message empowering.