Skip to main content

From horror to joy

LESSONS, precious lessons, can be learned from that recent incident involving a priest and an unwed teen mother who went to church for the baptism of her child. It was a nice story, a good, riveting drama that went viral and stirred practically the whole world. It started as a shocker but ended happily, thanks to Christian mercy.

Obviously, the first lesson is that anyone who has the duty to say anything in public, let alone, in a liturgical celebration, should really study what he has to say. If he is a priest, this duty is all the more important, since the priest can only expand on the word, the wisdom and the mercy of God.


St. Paul said that our word should improve and edify others, not destroy and scandalize them. Thus, outside of that Pauline advice is already a violation of one’s priestly identity and dignity,  and will certainly cause harm on the faithful.


If for some reason, a priest strays from this duty, then everything has to be done to help him. If he has some health,  emotional or psychological condition that makes him susceptible to irritation and unmindful of his words, then appropriate action should be given by his companions, by the people around, or by his superiors.


We should not wait for a blunder to explode especially in public. Prevention, anticipation and preparation are always preferable to the harder task of curing, cleaning up the mess and making up for the injury and damage.


I always believe that priests should be closely monitored and supervised by everyone. Their position and ministry is so important and delicate that they (we, me included) need all the help they can get. It’s not a matter of spying. Rather it’s all about brotherly concern and care.


They should never be left alone. In the manual for priestly life and ministry, this point is clearly highlighted. They are encouraged to live a very refined fraternity among themselves and others. A priest who prefers to be alone, with no family or community life, except when in retreat and in prayer, is clearly courting danger.


Being alone, that is, not in communion with God and with others at least in mind and heart, can only lead one to disaster. It hardens one’s idiosyncrasies and individuality that is not
constructive but destructive of the unity of any group or entity. 


Another lesson to be learned is that whenever some irregularity or anomaly is observed among some public, let alone,  ecclesiastical officials, a report to the nearest authority should be promptly made.


As much as possible, we should refrain from indulging in some trial by publicity, making use now of our modern and powerful technologies that can blow things out of proportion. We can only generate a kind of mob rule that way, feeding our wild instincts, and throwing to the wind a fair, sober, extensive assessment of the issue.


Let’s always remember that if any complaint is made, a thorough investigation should be made first. Prudence dictates that all relevant facts and data should be gathered first, and other considerations may also be made, since a complaint usually tends to be one-sided. We have to listen to all parties and give due notice to other relevant circumstances left unsaid in a complaint.


In this recent case of the erring priest and the aggrieved mother, the video that was put online only whipped up a terrible storm of outrage that, I believe, only worsened the case. The media and the public in general had a fiesta, making all kinds of comments not excepting those clearly tinged with malice and vile.


It was just a happy turn of events that the offending party promptly made his apology and his superiors took immediate action. In a while, some reconciliation took place.


The offender humbly asked for pardon, acknowledging the gross cruelty of his words and offering to make up. And the offended party also magnanimously forgave. It was truly heartwarming to witness this episode that, to me, reprised a Christian duty of mercy.


Well, I suppose, life has to go on. We commit a lot of mistakes along the way. But we should never lose hope. We may get stung, distressed, angered, depressed, etc., in a given moment, but let’s not stay long in that condition.



There’s always hope. We just have to take up, as soon as we can, the path of mercy, guaranteed by God’s wisdom and teaching, so we can move on all the wiser and all the better as a person and as people.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

PIDS expert says income tax cuts justified; warns gov’t of revenue loss

Proposals to amend the personal income tax schedule appear to be well-justified. However, these proposals should include measures that will allow government to recover the revenue loss from lower income taxes. Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow of state think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said at a seminar sponsored by the Philippine Senate, that government should look for new revenue measures to compensate for the projected revenue loss that will arise as a result of the implementation of any of the various proposals to restructure the personal income tax. Currently, there are several income tax reform proposals pending in both houses of Congress. All of them, according to Dr. Manasan, have the same objective of addressing the phenomenon of bracket creep, which results from “non-indexation to inflation of personal income tax brackets”. Simply put, bracket creep occurs when employees’ income increases over time as a result of inflation. Th

PGIN honors Ilocano heroes of past, present through Heroes Walk

SPO1 Allan Lampitoc Franco of Banna, Ilocos Norte and PO2 Jovalyn D. Lozano of Adams, Ilocos Norte receive a resolution of commendation, a certificate of college scholarship grant to their family members and a P20,000 cash incentive each from the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte represented by Governor Imee R. Marcos and Vice Governor Angelo M. Barba in recognition of their bravery and heroic acts in the Mamasapano clash in Maguindanao on January 25. Mr. Franco and Mr. Lozano were recognized on March 10 in time for the unveiling of the second batch of Ilocano heroes at the Heroes Walk located along the Sirib Mile in Laoag City.  (Lei Adriano) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO In honor of the heroes who brought freedom, fame and glory to the province as well as to the country in the past century, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Education Department and Sirib Youth Office launched the second batch of Ilocano Heroes Walk on March 10, 2015.