TRANSFORMATION THROUGH VALUES
(Talk delivered by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales
during the 10th MAGPAS First Saturday Catechesis held on August 7, 2010,
at the Paco Catholic School auditorium, Paco, Manila.)
The Means Will Serve the End

It has been said from the wisdom of elders that once the desire for an end has been identified, the choice of the means will follow. This is true of life. The moment a person decides on what he really wants to achieve, the steps he takes is mandated by what he wants. If a man desires good health, he would take steps to monitor his food intake and will faithfully attend to regular exercise. He would fill this desire with the means that lead to good health. That is why the next advice of our wise elders is this: be very careful with what you desire, because whatever one desires, he will buy at the cost of his soul (Heraclitus).

Be choosy with what is wanted. Correct desires can build character and save life; but wrong and selfish desires can also make selfish individuals and can even dictate criminal acts. Ultimately a person is what he desires. Today we go back to our apostolic vision because it has somehow articulated for us the beginning of what we want to be and where we want to go. We want God and we want to go back to Him. We are a people of God, called by him as Father, and He wants us to be persons with fullness of life – with the dignity and humanity that is ours as children of a loving Father – within a community that everyone wants to build. And in this community we witness to the God’s Reign in constant pursuit of our vision, through sometimes bitter change of fortunes, but always arriving at the truth that we are beloved of God and guided towards what is good.

Leadership and accompaniment are not enough to lead us to that change we have always wanted to achieve. We believe and we hope that tomorrow will always be better than today. But what are we to embrace today in order that tomorrow will bring us to that transformation of our society. Understandably tomorrow will be ours, only if we possess the potentials and the reasons to change ourselves today.

We have the potentials and we possess the means that enable us to change ourselves and through ourselves to transform our community (society).

The Role of Values in Any Change or Transformation

Values are the primary key to change or any transformation. In one of our regular Saturday MAGPAS catecheses, we said that principles (PRINSIPYO) are not the authentic beginning of change, although the root of the word “principle” is taken from the Latin word “principium,” a beginning. The truth is every principle, every beginning must be based and founded on a value or else, there can be no beginning.

Values are the key to any change, whether the question is to begin or to continue. The great scientist Albert Einstein once counseled his friends, “try not to be persons of success, but rather be men of values.”

Principles are based on values.

Value is the worth that is given to a thing, subject or object. It is something we do not ordinarily define, but everyone understands in daily life that when someone is ready to give up his belonging in order not only to possess a thing, that already reveals the value of the object. The Lord  Jesus gave us the best lesson on values when he said that a farmer once sold everything he had – plow, cow, house, furniture, and other belongings – in order to buy a piece of land that harbors a tremendous treasure. Giving up everything for the best shows everyone the true value of an object. The Kingdom of the love of God is one such value. (Matthew 13:44).

Some values have already been prepared for by God, Creator, and strengthened (in varying degrees) in every human being. In this portion of the catechesis on our vision, we will revisit  some of these key values that already the Filipino has kept from long ago; and these will need a revisit, an intensification of those moral treasures.

In the Pastoral Constitution of the Church, Gaudium Et Spes, the safeguarding of key values and how these will be shared with the young has already been outlined for us. The Document reminds all that “Still, it remains each man’s duty to safeguard the notion of the human person as a totality in which predominate values of intellect, will conscience, and brotherhood, since these values were established by the creator and wondrously  restored and elevated by Christ.”

“Education of this kind has its source and its cradle, as it were, in the family: there, children in an atmosphere of love learn more quickly the true scale of values, and approved forms of culture are almost naturally assimilated by the developing minds of adolescents.” (GS, 61)

For this kind of values formation and value transmission, the family has been singled out as the most ideal site of moral transformation, utilizing the values that already are available to everyone, but would still be needing support in its role for change.

The First Six Values That Can Empower Change and Transformation

Of the six values for change we take the first two values of (1) reason and (2) conscience. What is the role of reason in Christian and civil life? Reason is a special gift of God to humans, making them different from the rest of material creation. Humans can understand, they can learn, they can ask questions and reason out answers to questions. But reason has to be helped to grow, to mature and needs to be guided. The gift of reason is capable of finding an answer to the question of origin. With the help of reason the human person can know with certainty through the works of creation, the existence of a Creator. Reason is both a gift from God and a value we must treasure and protect. Faith is always ready to confirm and enlighten reason in the correct understanding of this truth on creation. (CCC, 286)

Conscience is the next big treasure and value that the human person possesses. Every person has a human conscience. If we may recall, there was another catechesis in this First Saturday MAGPAS talks where we even mentioned the degrees of sharpness of the human conscience (aside from the kind of conscience that a person can have: certain, doubtful, enlightened, etc.). But let us just go back to the basic meaning of this great treasure we have – conscience.

A rightly formed conscience helps the person to recognize the goodness or badness (evil) of his or her action, or act that s/he is about to perform. “Conscience is the law of the mind … It is the messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.”

"A man who acts according to his conscience assumes the responsibility for the acts performed. If a man commits evil, the just judgment of conscience can remain within him as the witness to the universal truth of good, at the time as the evil of his particular choice” (CCC, 1778; CCC, 1781).

"Time and again stories were told where a person has done bad and harmed another grievously – through big thievery or harm to life or killed someone – that that person had spent many a sleepless night causing the person’s loss of health and even disturbance of mental balance. Thus it was said in the past that the greatest tormentor of the human soul was a guilty conscience. Some had gone mad because of crimes that had ignored conscience.

Be the friend of your conscience, it is the voice of God in you. Treasure it, love it and value it.

Another value we treasure in our culture is the Maka-Diyos value of the Filipino. Hardly is there a Pinoy who does not profess a faith in, fear of and love for God. This is a treasure we all have, and many people from other countries and cultures openly remark about the Pinoy’s faith and reverence for God. S/he may be poor in other aspects, but his or her faith makes them appear “fulfilled” even in the midst of many more needs. Their faith shows in their face. Even before other countries learned how to smile, the Filipinos have already worn joy in their lives and shared it in their celebrations. Their belief in God and love for Him has enormous consequences for their lives (CCC, 222).

Many a tragedy and disaster, natural and man-made, have taken turns to visit and revisit the country, but the Filipino has managed to bounce back. And they came back with much hope coupled even with an element of joy. Have you not noticed that it is the Filipino who can manage to smile even in the midst of a flood that made him homeless? To realize the greatness of this value of faith and love of God, reverse the situation. Try to imagine the opposite: that there is not the element of faith in the Filipino culture; remove faith and the touch of joy linked with the Pinoy’s celebration of God’s gifts memorialized in their “fiestas.” Surely there will be much sadness or near hopelessness. But let that value of faith reach out beyond prayer and celebration, let faith in God embrace one’s neighbors for they, too, are images and likeness of Him who made all, and you will find Pinoys helping their neighbors. Bayanihan is not just a neighbor helping a neighbor. It is love that has given expression in compassion, destined to arrive at some measure of fullness of life.

The Filipino has a soft heart for the weak. In short, the Filipino is a person of love with compassion. It is said of him that when disasters come to destroy the countryside and have made people victims and refugees, the best of Filipino benevolence shines best. Even before public requests for aid is aired, the Filipino takes it as their initiative to extend help to those who are affected by the tragic event. Where does this value begin or how does the public exercise such affection for the weak?

It all begins in the home where the family exposes the young to the balance of love and compassion. Here is where the values are born. Again and again we have witnessed the discussion and sometimes moments of complaints at home where the young or the weaker members of the family appear to receive added attention from parents. And the complaining ones will always hear, “This is not favoritism. It is only because this young one or this weaker one is in a moment of great need that we must give more attention to him/her.” Ilang ulit nating naririnig sa magulang: “Palamangin muna natin si Nene sapagka’t meron siyang karamdaman.”

This is how values are learned and imbibed in the home. “We listen, we observe and we share in those practices of love, then without our making much effort, we are already passing on that value as life’s practice to others.” There is no formal school for habitual values as virtues. Life itself is the school. And the teachers for values are the children, the young and the old. They observe each other, the old leading the young, while the young are open to the adults. Grateful and reverent of one another, the elders and young ones mutually encourage one another, thus values are established mutually among the one who gives and the others who receive.

Humans are primarily influenced by what is good. It has been said by child psychologists that the first lesson is not preventive. “Do not do this or do not do that.” The first lesson is “Love.” Once the child learns love, because he is loved and shown love, s/he will be ready to obey. Then, even the preventive and protective measures become easy to take.

And while we are speaking of love as a value in life, let us read from the Catechism of the Catholic Church because it has stated this lesson so accurately. “To love is to will the good of another. All other affections have their source in this first movement of the human heart toward the good. Only the good can be loved.” (CCC, 1766) Thus, when speaking of values our first orientation is towards what is good.

Discipline is another value society appreciates and needs. What are laws for if they are not obeyed? A foreigner visiting the country for the first time was appalled by the clogged and disorganized and disordered traffic in the local streets. Chaotic was the right word he said. “Your laws are only suggestions and not for execution.” People complain of the disorder in the streets, markets, public parks and offices, etc. Again, we must begin at home and in the schools. Whatever lack of discipline there is in the home is reflected in public life.

Everybody needs discipline for his or her own good. There is no such thing as limitless expression, just as there is no such thing as continuous eating. There is a limit or an end to anything for one’s own good. And the only value that can intervene in such setting in life is the act of disciplining one’s self. Again it is in the home where discipline could first be learned and practiced. Complete lack of discipline augurs great tragedies in later life as an adult.

The word discipline comes from the word “disciple,” one who is a pupil, a student, one who is ready to learn. He is one who is willing to learn by instruction and the exercise of self-control. A disciplined person understands that there are moments that “NO” must be accepted for the good of self and others. Order may eventually come to the streets, market place,  park and offices, when for the good of the community there are citizens who are willing to say “no” to themselves. There again, love of others may entice the majority of people to seek “no” in order that others may at least live in some fort or safety.

Another word for discipline is self-sacrifice, which must be linked with self and others, thus, a well-disciplined citizen learns to sacrifice for the love of his fellowmen. And when one loves another, s/he enters the realm of love of country. He is a patriot, above all, s/he is a Christian, a believer, a good citizen. St. Thomas of Aquinas taught that Patriotism or love of country is part of love for one’s brethren. And should anyone desire peace and order in one’s neighborhood, the first task is to work on the value of order and discipline in one’s self and in one’s home, which is the closest community one could ever have. Order in the larger scale of the nation follows only what order and discipline there are in the home.

Part of that love for country is for the citizen to be formed through discipline and to fulfill its obligation to the state. The teaching of the Church on helping the country is this: “It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity and freedom.”(CCC, 2238, 2239). “It is morally obligatory for the citizen to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote and to defend one’s country: to pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.” (CCC, 2240).

Six Sails Empower One Boat Headed Towards It’s Vision

Obviously there are more values in our culture aside from the six we have discussed in this paper. We have singled out these six treasures in our culture because they are the most needed today in the building up of our country. The six values are:

Values are like a sail to a boat. Even if the boat is equipped with a rudder, the boat will remain motionless in the middle of the sea. The rudder gives the direction but is the sail that catches the wind and puts the boat in motion.

Values, therefore, are important because they move us to where the vision (rudder) directs us. Only values can empower a person, a church or a nation towards change, transformation, and development.

With the help and blessings of the Father, who calls us, let us now move towards the fullness of life (that includes family, church and country) with purified values leading to our apostolic vision. Thank You. God bless!.

 

+G.B. Rosales
MAGPAS VISION 10
07 August 2010