PASTORAL INSTRUCTION
FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
“MAKE STRAIGHT HIS PATH”(Mt 3:1-2)
December 07, 1986
This Sunday (December 7) we
celebrate the Second Sunday in Advent. The second
Advent week brings with it the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. As we know,
our Blessed Mother, under this title, is Patroness of the Philippines. The parishes, schools and other institutions,
associations and confraternities, etc., which in our country have been placed
under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception are almost beyond counting. December 8, 1986 will mark the beginning of our National Eucharistic
Year. And December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a feast especially
dear to many of our Filipino people. A very full week awaits us then, alive
with the challenge and spirit of the season.
This Sunday’s Gospel (Mt
3:1-12) recalls the words of St. John the Baptizer, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make
straight his path!” Advent is a time for making straight the Lord’s way to our
hearts, for “removing the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with
joy!” (Opening Prayer, 2nd Sunday of Advent).
It might be a good time, then,
to ask ourselves: what are some of these things which hinder us
from receiving Christ with joy, this Advent? The alternative opening prayer for
the day might give us good leads to the answer:
May
the lure of greed not impede us from the joy which moves the hearts of
those who seek him.
May
the darkness not blind us to the wisdom which fills the minds of those
who find him.
The “things that hinder us”
(we are told) are: sinning against the truth, against the light of the truth,
and letting greed have the better of us, preventing the peace and joy of the
pure of heart from being ours. We are called then to the service of the truth
in word, deed and life; to integrity, sincerity, truthfulness. And we are
warned against covetousness and greed. We are commanded to be honest in our
dealings with others, in our private and public (professional) life.
There are good points to
examine ourselves on. Truth and integrity in our lives, in
our relations with each other.
In the Gospel sometimes read
on the Feast of Christ the King, we hear Our Lord’s words to Pilate: “For this
was I born, for this have I come into this world, to bear witness to the truth”
(Jn 18:37). To come into this world, to bear witness
to the truth is to speak the truth in word, but also in deed.
The present moment in our
people’s history demands of us, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that we do
all that we can to mend the torn fabric of our society, that we strengthen the
walls and pillars of
“the new houses of freedom and justice” which we are trying to raise up.
Nothing is more essential to our nation than that we re-dedicate ourselves to
the TRUTH in our own lives, by living Christians lives of INTEGRITY and
SINCERITY. This translate itself into actions by
TRUTHFULNESS in word and HONESTY in deeds. In the recent past, there has been a
disregard and manipulation of truth on a massive scale. And we know that dishonesty
and corruption have eaten more and deeply into the pillars of our social life.
We might call this part of the
moral reformation we must enter upon, as a return to the seventh, eight and
tenth commandments of the Jewish-Christian dialogue.
“You
shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Ex 20:16).
“You
shall not steal” (Ex 20:16).
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods” (Ex 20:17).
These commandments bid us to
be people of integrity: in our thought and speech, especially with regard to
our neighbor. In our dealings with our fellowmen: through uprightness and
honesty.
TRUTHFULNESS: “May
the darkness not blind us to... wisdom.”
One of the casualties of that
erosion of morality and moral values which our Philippine Bishops spoke of, in
their 1986 draft pastoral letter, is the regard and reverence for the Truth, so
important in human and Christian life.
We see this in so many ways in
our daily lives! How much of the front pages of a good number of our dailies
consist of unchecked, often irresponsible, “rumours.”
Even our President has recently complained of this, when she pleaded before
press people, not for exemption from criticism against her government, but for
basic fairness and respect for truth. So much of what today goes as “reporting”
is really the mere recounting of gossip. We might point out too that for so
many among us, all public figures are “fair game” in the matter of tale-bearing
and often vicious rumour-mongering. It does not seem
to matter if the reputation and good name of people in public life is
irreparably besmirched. This is done, unfortunately, even in print and on the
air, by columnists and commentators from whom we might expect more responsible
adherence to the ethical code of their profession. How often too, innuendo and
insinuation are used in attacking people, when objective grounds are not at
hand. And there is hardly ever rectification, correction or retraction made
when the story is proven false.
It might be useful for us to
remember that sins against the eight commandment are
often serious sins, gravely violating justice and charity, or seriously
damaging not only the good name, but often the lives of the individuals and
their families.
Defamation, the blackening of
another’s good name, is a sin of injustice against the neighbor; nowadays that
seems to be generally forgotten. Detraction, the willful harming of another’s
reputation by telling something about him or her which may be true, but which
demeans people in the eyes of others, is one way we defame others. Often it is
envy or malice (masquerading as an outraged sense of injustice!) which fuels
detraction. Calumny or slander is lying to injure another’s name; truly an
abomination before God and men. Rumour-mongering,
tale-bearing, idle gossip, which we indulge in so readily,
harm us often as much as it harms others. (They indicate and foster
basic weaknesses in our own character, meanness of spirit, lack of self-control).
Through these too, we so often slip into detraction and calumny. What the
letter of James says of sins of the tongue, in its profound passage on
controlling our speech (Jas 3:1-12) should be often read by us.
If a person is without fault in speech he is a man in
the fullest sense, because he can control the entire body... The tongue no man
can tame. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Lying, for which we so readily
find rationalizations, weakens the whole atmosphere of human relationships, and
sometimes also turns malicious, when it is triggered by the intent to injure,
mislead or hurt others. Of perjury, which (so we are told) is more and more
committed in courts of law, we must still repeat what the Scriptures say: “A
false witness will not go unpunished, and he who utters lies will not escape” (Prov 19:5). Rightly does the
Scriptures insist on this, because perjury calls on God to give witness to
falsehood.
We must note too that not only
the doers of these sins are guilty of evil, but those who lend willing ears
[sic] to calumny and detraction, to tale-bearing which causes injury and
dissension, are often — as psychophants — guilty too
of the wrong committed. “One must be pure of ear as well as of tongue.”
Lastly, we must recall that in
all sins against truth and justice, there is the duty of rectification and restitution.
Jesus’ words apply here: “I tell you, on the day of judgment, men will render
account for every careless word they say” (Mt 12:36). Further, we must remember that “taking back one’s
words” when we have defamed others is nearly impossible. Our words have done
their harm already, especially since people find it easier to believe the bad,
rather than the good about their neighbors. Evil said of others never ends with
just the first hearers, it travels on and on,
continuing to do more and more damage. “See how tiny the spark is that sets a
huge forest ablaze! The tongue is such a flame” (Jas 3:4-5).
What we have done, in the
preceding paragraphs, has given you a “catechetical lesson” on what violations
of the truth are which are often committed, vis-a-vis
our neighbor. Much could still be said on this theme. We could speak on
criticism, damaging and even vicious criticism so often indulged in, frequently by those who can least afford “to cast the first
stone.” We are not saying that criticism is always harmful. With regard
especially to government, Ninoy Aquino himself said,
“We must teach people that we must criticize to free, because we are free only
when we criticize.” But criticism must be true and objective. It must be
necessary; it must be responsible. For the Christian, especially, it must be
kind.
But this must be enough on
“how we injure others by sins of speech.” We wanted to call your attention to
this area of our moral activity, because so much harm is done these days by a
growing disregard for truthfulness and restraint in speech. In a time when
confusion and destabilization undermine the social order, we must examine
ourselves in this regard. The command, “Thou shall not bear false witness
against thy neighbor” warns us against contempt and hate, unfairness and injustice in thought, word and deed.
Conversely, it teaches us respect and love, justice and fairness toward our
neighbor — and these are “core elements” of Christian morality and Christian
life.
INTEGRITY AND HONESTY “May the lure of greed... not impede us from... joy.”
The truth, lived out in our
lives, we call integrity. We are told that the scriptural meaning of TRUTH, aletheia, (e.g. Jn
17: 17-19; 3:21; 1 Jn 1, 6) means not only truth in
the abstract, intellectual truth, but truth-in-life, truth made incarnate in
deeds. It thus translates itself as sincerity and straightforwardness, a
fidelity to God’s law, honesty in our dealings with our neighbor.
There is no need, we believe,
to dwell long on the necessity of INTEGRITY AND HONESTY, turning from the lure
of covetousness and greed in our lives, above all at the present moment of our
history. To reconstruct our economy and our entire nation, to restore mutual
trust without which a society simply cannot survive, there must be a return to
the ideal and praxis (above all!) of honor, rectitude, probity in
private and public spheres of our nation’s life.
The revelation of massive
misappropriation and misuse of public (and private) funds converted into
“hidden wealth,” amounting to millions and even billions of dollars, has
generated such dismay, anger and a sense of outrage among our countrymen as
have few things in our national history. That the economy has been laid waste,
and an entire people immeasurably impoverished for the benefit of a few, to
whom the commonweal had been entrusted, has dramatically shown us the lure of
greed, and the strategems of dishonesty, can all but
destroy an entire people.
We know too that such
large-scale breakdown in morality, such deep-seated corruption, inevitably
spreads like a contagion throughout a nation’s life. As a kind of seepage, this
evil penetrates almost every sector, every level of our political, business,
professional and even familiar and personal activities and relationships. Have every
one of us, rich and poor, young and old, even personally touched by tentacles
of this corruption?
The victimization of the poor
and powerless, seen for instance in the exploitation of overseas workers and
would-be-overseas workers, or minority sectors, of the ignorant and needy,
often depriving them of most basic rights; misuse of funds destined for the
benefit of those in lowest income brackets, and the like; extortion in its many
forms, — these are only a few of the ways of cheating and stealing which really “cry out to heaven for
vengeance” on God’s part. The present national situation, which began as an
hour of hope for our people, especially victims of the evils of the past
regime, makes these practices doubly reprehensible.
It will take time, and hard,
persevering effort, to cleanse our nation from such evil. But we must begin.
The place to begin is in the heart of every one of us, in our attitudes and
dealings. And the time to begin is now.
Even now is the ax laid to the root of the tree. Every
tree that is not fruitful will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Mt 3:10).
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and
hill shall be levelled. The winding ways shall be
made straight, and the rough ways smooth. And all mankind shall see the salvation
of God (Lk 3:5-6).
In our past instruction
(November 30, 1986) we began by recalling that Advent is a season — a season of
grace! for turning to God, begging him for his gifts of conversion and
forgiveness. Advent is a time of prayer, for earnest and persevering prayer. A
time for penance, too. (How seriously do we take this?) Only prayer and
penance, with God’s grace, can drive away sin, and the weakness,
hardheartedness, selfishness, which breed sin in our lives. When we see how
deep and wide, how thoroughgoing the conversion and renewal is, to which we are called, we are tempted to
discouragement and dismay. But the Advent summon is, precisely, a summon to
hope. Hope is the gift of Advent.
The Spirit of Jesus, working
in us, can awaken in us the great longing for the coming of the Lord. He is the
Saviour, he is the Redeemer. “For this day is born to
you a Saviour, the Messiah and Lord,” the angels said
to the shepherds (Lk 2:11). From him, from his
spirit, will come the power to remove “what hinders us from receiving Christ
with joy.”
The prayer of the Christmas
carol says it well:
O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend on us, we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
And so we cry again, from our deepest hearts,
“O come, O come Emmanuel, to ransom us.
Halina, Hesus, halina!”
(Sgd.) + JAIME L. CARDINAL SIN, D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
December 07, 1986
