pbb
Let me start by quoting from Pope Benedict’s sermon in a gathering with seminarians. He said, “It is right for the seminarians to remember that if the church demands much from them it is because they are to care for those whom Christ ransomed at such a high price.” You are to care for those whom Christ ransomed at such a high price, the price which was his own life. This is where our theme panaw, baligya, bakal get its meaning. This the raison d’être of seminary formation and the process one has to undergo to become a minister of the church. Why do I have to go through the process of panaw, baligya, bakal in my seminary formation? Why do I have to go through the cutting off, the leaving behind, and the sacrificing? Because you are to care for those whom Christ ransomed at such a high price. Why can’t I be allowed to do what I want like the rest of the young people my age? Why can’t they just let me be? Why do I always have to think of the community above my own, why do I have to care more for the community more than I care for myself, even to the point of sacrificing myself in the process? Why? Because you are to care for those whom Christ ransomed at such a high price.
Let me focus my reflection on one of the most difficult demand of seminary formation tonight, something which the first year whom we officially welcome today, started. It involves the most difficult among the three words in our theme for the year, for it involves leave taking, it involves cutting off, it involves the pain of detachment. It is the baligya that is especially difficult. This is where most of us will fail.
The going in order to find the treasure is easy, in fact the gospel tells of a man who stumbled upon it. The embracing of the treasure once found is easier still. The difficulty lies in what to do after finding the pearl of great price and what to do before embracing the treasure one finds. The selling will not be easy. And this process will bear the brunt of formation work. Selling your other treasures after finding the buried treasure, and selling everything before embracing the pearl of great price, comprises a big chunk and also the biggest burden of seminary formation.
Why, because the decision to sell will almost always involve a dilemma. When we speak of treasures or treasures we speak of something that has a special connection to your heart, the heart which is the seat of desire and longing, the heart which is the place of the will and focus. The thing we set in our hearts is our highest, most precious treasure or treasures. The dilemma begins when you ask, is this treasure more valuable to me than the other treasures I now have? Is the find worth selling everything? What are the treasures I now have? What if what I am leaving behind is actually more valuable to me than what I am being asked to embrace now? I know what I am about to embrace, but do I know how valuable to me the things I am asked to leave behind, the things I am asked to sell? Am I willing to let go of these values? Am I willing to sell and part with my treasures, with the things I now value? How am I going to turn my back on all these things that I love? You will be asked to replace your treasures to what Jesus calls the more precious treasure. Am I capable of doing so?
These questions are crucial in seminary formation. For indecisiveness in this regard can mean living a double life in the future - having your cake and eating it too, as they say in English, or in Tagalog, namamangka sa dalawang ilog.
Seminary formation helps you make the crucial decision. Formation helps you identify the treasures you are going to leave behind, values and treasures that you need to sell. Formation helps you see the bigger picture. It would help to have trusted persons peer into your heart to help you identify these values and to help you re-evaluate them in the light of the treasure now set before you. We have specifically recognized in our program this year the role of your spiritual directors and the role of the community animator to help you do this. I have already told you that there are things you cannot do on your own. Self-help programs can only do as much. Somebody must be allowed to peer inside your heart, someone must be allowed to go along with you in your journey in finding, in selling and finally in embracing the pearl of great price. I hope you will see the wisdom of this arrangement.
I know this is going to be harder than you thought for in selling your other treasures you will put yourself in a position of vulnerability.
As we welcome the mananahid let us do so conscious that we are in the same quest, in the same journey. Let us help each other find the more precious treasure, let that help each other leave behind our other treasures and let us together embrace that which we now consider our greatest treasure.
Let me focus my reflection on one of the most difficult demand of seminary formation tonight, something which the first year whom we officially welcome today, started. It involves the most difficult among the three words in our theme for the year, for it involves leave taking, it involves cutting off, it involves the pain of detachment. It is the baligya that is especially difficult. This is where most of us will fail.
The going in order to find the treasure is easy, in fact the gospel tells of a man who stumbled upon it. The embracing of the treasure once found is easier still. The difficulty lies in what to do after finding the pearl of great price and what to do before embracing the treasure one finds. The selling will not be easy. And this process will bear the brunt of formation work. Selling your other treasures after finding the buried treasure, and selling everything before embracing the pearl of great price, comprises a big chunk and also the biggest burden of seminary formation.
Why, because the decision to sell will almost always involve a dilemma. When we speak of treasures or treasures we speak of something that has a special connection to your heart, the heart which is the seat of desire and longing, the heart which is the place of the will and focus. The thing we set in our hearts is our highest, most precious treasure or treasures. The dilemma begins when you ask, is this treasure more valuable to me than the other treasures I now have? Is the find worth selling everything? What are the treasures I now have? What if what I am leaving behind is actually more valuable to me than what I am being asked to embrace now? I know what I am about to embrace, but do I know how valuable to me the things I am asked to leave behind, the things I am asked to sell? Am I willing to let go of these values? Am I willing to sell and part with my treasures, with the things I now value? How am I going to turn my back on all these things that I love? You will be asked to replace your treasures to what Jesus calls the more precious treasure. Am I capable of doing so?
These questions are crucial in seminary formation. For indecisiveness in this regard can mean living a double life in the future - having your cake and eating it too, as they say in English, or in Tagalog, namamangka sa dalawang ilog.
Seminary formation helps you make the crucial decision. Formation helps you identify the treasures you are going to leave behind, values and treasures that you need to sell. Formation helps you see the bigger picture. It would help to have trusted persons peer into your heart to help you identify these values and to help you re-evaluate them in the light of the treasure now set before you. We have specifically recognized in our program this year the role of your spiritual directors and the role of the community animator to help you do this. I have already told you that there are things you cannot do on your own. Self-help programs can only do as much. Somebody must be allowed to peer inside your heart, someone must be allowed to go along with you in your journey in finding, in selling and finally in embracing the pearl of great price. I hope you will see the wisdom of this arrangement.
I know this is going to be harder than you thought for in selling your other treasures you will put yourself in a position of vulnerability.
As we welcome the mananahid let us do so conscious that we are in the same quest, in the same journey. Let us help each other find the more precious treasure, let that help each other leave behind our other treasures and let us together embrace that which we now consider our greatest treasure.
Comments