the danger when things or persons become common: 15th week tuesday 2012 II

Let us talk about the subject I teach in the seminary for more than ten years now, the philosophy of beauty, or philosophical aesthetics.  What makes a thing beautiful, is it in the thing itself or is it in the way I see things?  Each philosopher has his or her own view why things are pleasing to a person while others are not.  In studying beauty St. Thomas Aquinas, the great catholic philosopher is a consolation for many of us.  He is a consolation because he said that all beings, all creatures, all men and women are beautiful in themselves.  Each of us is beautiful, he said, for each of us is created according to our nature and form.

However, St. Thomas said, the problem comes in when a thing or person is seen in relation to another.  In itself you are beautiful but in relation to me, a thing or person can be ugly.  Kon ikaw lang, you are beautiful - kon ikaw lang.  Pero kon may iban nga nagalantaw, ti magadepende na ina sa ila.  You are beautiful in yourself because you fulfil your nature and your form as a human being.  But in relation to me, you may be ugly, you may be beautiful, you may not even be noticed at all.  In relation to me.  Gani sa mga seminarista damo fans si St. Thomas, kay amo ni sia ang consolasyon sang mga law-ay.  A thing is beautiful in itself.  However, it can be otherwise, in relation to others.

What makes a thing or a person ordinary, less beautiful in relation to others?  St. Thomas said that one of the criteria for a thing or person to become less than beautiful or for a thing to lose its beauty is commonality.  The thing or the person has become common.  Kada adlaw kita mo.  Kada adlaw sugata mo.  Kada adlaw atubang mo.  It has become common and therefore it becomes ordinary.

Sin-o lang abi sa aton ang naghinay-hinay kaina sa atubangan sang casa del gobierno kag nagsiling, wow kanami sang Arroyo Fountain, kanami sang mga lin-ay nga nagapalibot sini.  Wala e.  Ngaa?  Kay kada adlaw kita mo man na dira.

This is a great danger not just to work of arts but also to our spiritual life and even to our relationship with each other.  Ang kada adlaw ta nga pagsugat-anay kag pagsumalangay nagatuga sa isa kag isa sang kataka, nagatuga sing kasum-od, nagahimo sang isa ka butang nga ordinaryo.

This is the sin of Chorazin and Bethsaida.  Jesus has become ordinary.  Jesus becomes a regular fixture in these places.  His miracle, since it happened most often, became a common feature.  It did not anymore arouse marvel and awe.  It became ordinary.

Many times marriages fail because a wife or a husband become a common fixture.  There is no more newness to the relationship.  Each one becomes common, no longer eliciting excitement, no longer arousing amazement and newness.  There is no more adventure.  The relationship loses steam.

Many times our resolution to become more prayerful fail after some time.  Nagakataka kay wala na sing bag-o nga makita, wala na sing bag-o nga ma-obra, wala na sing awe nga ma-inspire.  Wala na sing kilig nga mabatyagan.

Many times we are discouraged in our work because it becomes routine.  We lose our original enthusiasm.  We lose our sense of mission.

Actually wala kita problema magsugod.  Pero indi bala kabudlay mag-sustain.  After some time we become indifferent, after some time we become passive, after some time things and persons become common and they do not elicit as much enthusiasm as when we first started.

Today we pray that in our vocation and in our responsibilities, in your marriage, in my priesthood, we will not grow slack.  That we will take each day as a new day, with its own wonders and surprises.  That we will become sensitive to the workings of grace and the miracles that happen.

Today we pray that we will persevere in our resolve, agud indi kita magkataka sa isa kag isa kag sa aton pagpaninguha nga magmangin-maayo.

In our first reading Isaiah said to King Ahaz, unless your faith is firm you are not firm.  Amo ini ang difficulty kon ang tanan ginabase sa balatyagon.  Faith is not balatyagon, kay sa masami gid man nagakadula ang balatyagon.  Faith rather is the assent of the mind to the truth, regardless of your feelings of weakness and fear as Ahaz did feel and would later succumb.  Faith is believing despite my feelings of misgiving.  This is what makes us persevere till the end.