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MISSING CARDINAL SIN

By Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas
August 31, 2011

Do you still care to remember Jaime Cardinal Sin? He passed away only six years ago. How time flies! How fast we forget! He would have been eighty three years old today. I wonder if people still remember. As for me, how can I forget? I will always remember and I still miss him.

Cardinal Sin had something to say about almost everything happening to the Church and Philippine society. He did not have to go to Luneta to be heard. Even if he whispered to the wall, society somehow caught his opinion, media was swift to publish and gossipers were quick to exaggerate.

I lived with him as his secretary for eighteen years. I lived with him longer than I lived with my own parents. He taught me. He guided me. He allowed me to care for him. I knew he cared for me as much as he cared for the millions who belonged to his flock. He knew the meaning of living a dangerous life. He knew the meaning of being ready to die to protect his beloved.

What would Cardinal Sin tell us about what is going on the country now? What would Cardinal Sin do about the situation of the Church and government now? Only Cardinal Sin can answer for Cardinal Sin and only Cardinal Sin can answer like Cardinal Sin.

As I remember him and as I knew him, I offer these conjectures of a nostalgic former secretary.

I close my eyes and imagine him in the car on our way to an engagement. I imagine him say: The real battle about the reproductive health bill is not with the legislature where the debates are ongoing and where the voting will be done. The real person to wrestle with is not the President who has sadly called the bill a priority bill. The real battle is in the minds and hearts of our youth. The youth are being misled by wrong teachings. The youth are like parched dry sponge. In their thirst, they absorb all and retain them regardless of the purity of source. I pity our youth. The Church cannot impose its right and authority in this highly pluralistic society. It must be willing to join the arena of public opinion, use new methods and approaches and even jejemon vocabulary to make the message of God convincing. It is not the duty of churchmen to lobby in government offices. Our duty is to teach Christ and only Christ. Our duty is to form people’s minds and prick consciences and let those formed consciences speak up in the plaza of public opinion. This is lay empowerment. This is youth empowerment. This is the church of the people not the church of bishops.

There is a problem deeper than the anti life and anti family bills in the legislature. The blasphemous art exhibits point to a deeper and more alarming issue. The irreverent calumny thrown at religious leaders are symptoms of deeper problems. It is due to the wrong understanding of freedom and the misplaced primacy that is laid on conscience.

After EDSA 1986, we all discovered a fresh breeze of freedom in the air. Lost liberties were restored and the freedom to express was held in high esteem. Freedom is indeed a noble human right and a sublime aspiration but it not unlimited. Freedom since EDSA 1986 has been abused, terribly abused. Freedom is not absolute. The limit of freedom is love. The exercise of freedom must make us more loving. If the use of freedom violates the freedom of another, it is licentiousness; it fails to love. That freedom is lewd and obscene.

There is no absolute freedom. Freedom has limits. Its limit is truth. When freedom violates or assails truth, it can no longer be called freedom. It is debauchery and brute arrogance.

Freedom must respect the law. Freedom without respect for law is anarchy. Laws do not restrict freedom. Laws help us to live in order. When life is orderly, freedom is also safeguarded.

Our countrymen who declare themselves Catholics because they attend Catholic liturgies but disregard the commandments of God and the precepts of the Church are gravely in error. To be a Catholic, it is not enough to pray the Catholic prayers. To say you are a Catholic, you must also live as a Catholic. It is not enough to act according to conscience. Before listening to that conscience, we must first insure that the conscience is sensitive to the laws of God. Conscience is not the ultimate tribunal. The Truth that God has taught us is the highest tribunal. That Truth is in the bible. That Truth is handed to us in the teachings of the Church.

How I miss Cardinal Sin! He taught me to cherish freedom but he also warned me not to raise it to a value more than it deserves. Freedom is one of the great gifts of God to men but the greatest gift is love. Use your freedom to be more loving because “the greatest is love”. Aim for the greatest. Freedom must recognize unchanging truths. Freedom must not enchain truth. Truth is the mother of freedom and it is the height of ingratitude to enslave your mother, isn’t it?

He taught me: Follow your conscience when it speaks but make sure the ears of that conscience are ever attuned to God. When a deaf conscience speaks, ignore that voice. That is the voice of error. Knowing what is right and what is wrong is not inborn. Conscience must be formed and molded unto Christ. The duty of conscience is to listen to its God so that it may be credible when it speaks.

The legacy of Cardinal Sin is freedom. Let us understand freedom in depth. The love of Cardinal Sin was the youth and children. He taught them well. I will honor him by loving those he loved and living as he lived and believing in what he stood for.* * * Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, D.D.

Father (+Jaime Cardinal L. Sin)

THE NEW EVANGELIZATION

(Part 40)

AN ACCEPTABLE TIME

June 17, 2013

Today’s reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

We have been called to the New Evangelization. It is an urgent and important call. Due to its urgency and importance, God’s grace will be freely poured out in order to accomplish the task at hand. God expects His people to proclaim the salvation of God massively to the ends of the earth. “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:2b).

How can we accomplish this awesome task? We need to understand the call, what it entails, what kind of evangelizers we need to become. We need to be clear on what God requires, on what to expect regarding our mission. We need to go all out, not to shirk our responsibility, not to downplay the importance of our calling, but rather, “on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God.” (2 Cor 6:4a).

How do we truly become ministers of God? How do we carry out our task?

First, it will be “through much endurance” (2 Cor 6:4b). There will be “afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts” (2 Cor 6:4c-5). Wow! That is no walk in the park! We are engaged in spiritual warfare. We will be bruised, beaten and bloodied. We will become weary and even discouraged, at times to the point of wanting to give up. Don’t. Endure, and you will see the victory of our God.

Second, we do divine work, we are witnesses to and ambassadors of Christ, and as such we need to manifest the virtues that come from God. Our witness can only be powerful and our work can only be effective if it is done “by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the power of God” (2 Cor 6:6-7a). We need to shed the ways of the world–impurity, impatience, rudeness, lies, lack of integrity, looking to human strength and wisdom. As God’s instruments, we need to be pure and holy vessels.

Third, engaged in war with the evil one, we fight “with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left” (2 Cor 6:7b). Our battle is against the principalities and powers. We wear the armor of God and wield the sword of the Spirit. We are soldiers of Christ, the holy and righteous One. We march with the armies of heaven, mounted on white horses and wearing clean white linen.

Fourth, we persist and move relentlessly forward, not matter what, through highs and lows, victories and seeming defeats, joys and sorrows, pleasure and pain, “through glory and dishonor, insult and praise.” (2 Cor 6:8a). Mind you, there will be plenty of both. But whatever we are dealt at the moment, we persevere and rejoice, without losing sight of our goal. What happens to us is incidental; what is important is how we ultimately accomplish God’s purpose.

Finally, we must know that the world will disdain us and will thus afflict us, but we look not to the approval of the world, but to that of God. Satan, the father of lies and the prowling lion devouring many, will turn our world topsy-turvy in order to discourage us. But we always look to the vindication of God. We as God’s ministers have much to teach the world. By our work and witness, we contrast negative external impressions with positive inner realities. The world may not perceive it, being blinded by the enemy, but God knows and sees. And so “we are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful; as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things.” (2 Cor 6:8b-10). Such is the paradox of ministry.

But such is the way we commend ourselves as ministers of God, in this call to the New Evangelization. When we live and serve thus, “we cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry” (2 Cor 6:3).

What an awesome calling! We who are the people of God have already received the grace and blessing of salvation, of knowing Christ and living in him. Now we are called to share Christ, to proclaim the good news of salvation in him. So “then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” (2 Cor 6:1b). The grace of God is not just for us but for all, and those who have come first are to help bring in those who are still lost. Let us go about “working together” (2 Cor 6:1a) in response to the call to the New Evangelization.

We call on the name of the Lord as we go forth into the world. We are assured that God is always there for us. “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” (2 Cor 6:2a).

*     *     *

THE NEW EVANGELIZATION

(Part 39)

AFFLICTED IN EVERY WAY

June 14, 2013

Today’s readings:

2 Corinthians 4:7-15

Psalm 116:10-18

The New Evangelization is a special call. It can only happen if God’s people put on God’s mind and take on the proper posture required of God’s instruments. It is a very challenging call, because it discards the wisdom of the world and takes on a radical outlook regarding the circumstances of life and mission. Here is what Paul says:

“We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor 4:8-9)

When we zealously proclaim the gospel, we will be afflicted in every way. Why? Because we come against Satan and he will certainly assault us. Since he has dominion over the world, he marshals all his forces in this assault, and so we will even see friends, co-workers and Church leaders join in. There will be oppression and persecution. But we are not constrained. We should never give up. We do not allow the enemy to dictate our actions or our agenda. In fact, when we face intense affliction, we rejoice in the affirmation that we are being effective in our mission.

Of course, when such intense affliction happens, despite our entreaties for relief from God, knowing that we are doing what is good as we serve Him, we will at times be perplexed. We are hard put to understand why God allows us to seemingly fail, or does not provide for our need or come to our rescue. We will be troubled. We may even begin to question if we are doing the right thing. So we may be discouraged, but we are never driven to despair. To despair is to give up all hope. To despair is to abandon the work, thinking that no good will come of it. But we know that we are serving God, that we are doing what He tells us to do. And we are called to persistence and perseverance. We know that in God’s time and in His own way, the victory will be ours.

So we are persecuted, but we know that we are not abandoned. In fact, we realize that such is actually the very way of God. Jesus too was on a mission, and Jesus too was severely afflicted and persecuted, to the point when he even cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But God did not forsake him. He suffered death, but on the third day was raised. The way of God is the way of the cross. This is why Paul rejoiced in his sufferings. Thus, in the depths of severe affliction, to the point nearing despair, we trust in God, we hold on to His promises, we know that all things will work for our good in the end. We are not abandoned, but rather, God is always with us, until the end of the age.

In the spiritual war we are engaged in, the enemy will strike us down. We will be bruised and bloodied. We will be down and out. We will have our face ground to the dust. We will be laid low. We may even lose our lives. But we are never destroyed. Our spirituality in fact should increase through affliction, because we are purified, we cling more tightly to Jesus, we are humbled and stripped of our human weaknesses, we trust more in God, we begin to understand the mysterious workings of the Spirit. And if we lose our lives, then we have gained it. “For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Cor 4:11).

Such is the paradox of the ministry entrusted to us as we are called to the New Evangelization. We humans do the very divine work of God. We are entrusted with the great treasure of salvation in Jesus, “but we hold this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor 4:7a). We engage in the greatest conflict of the ages, the war between God and Satan for the souls of people. We thus need to be greatly aware, not just of being in spiritual warfare, but of the reality that in this work we are totally and utterly dependent on God. That is why we need to be afflicted, not just to have the privilege of walking in the very path of Jesus, but to keep us humbled and always looking to God, knowing “that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.” (2 Cor 4:7b).

We respond to the call to the New Evangelization, with no agenda but to obey and please God, in order to continue Jesus’ work of salvation, and bring many more back to God. We suffer for the sake of righteousness. We manifest Jesus’ great love for God’s people, those that he gave his very life for. “So death is at work in us, but life in you.” (2 Cor 4:12).

We need never be afraid, whatever affliction awaits us. We simply put our total faith and trust in God, “knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence.” (2 Cor 4:14). We keep our eyes on Jesus, especially on Jesus hanging on the cross. Death is simply the gateway to eternal life. “I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” (Ps 116:13).

When we focus on Jesus, then we focus on all the good that we have experienced from his hands. God is never lacking in generosity. We must not dwell on our pain or suffering, knowing that even such affliction is God’s gift to us. “How can I repay the Lord for all the great good done for me?” (Ps 116:12). We never look down or backward, but always up and forward. We know we ourselves have received the gift of salvation, and now we are given the great privilege of being God’s instruments for sharing that great treasure with everyone else. Now that is worth every bit of sacrifice.

Let us all be able to say, “I kept faith, even when I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted!’” (Ps 116:10). Onward to the New Evangelization!

*     *     *

OUR THEME FOR 2013

(Part 51)

WONDERS AND FAITH

June 9, 2013

Today’s readings:

1 Kings 17:17-24

Psalm 30:2-13

Galatians 1:11-19

Luke 7:11-17

Faith works wonders, but wonders stir up faith. With faith we can do the works of Jesus and greater ones that those. With greater works people are led to faith in Jesus.

Jesus raised the widow’s son from the dead in Nain, and “fear seized them all, and they glorified God” (Lk 7:16a). The people recognized that God was acting in and through Jesus. Elijah also raised a widow’s son (1 Kgs 17:22), and the woman said to him, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God, and it is truly the word of the Lord that you speak.” (1 Kgs 17:24). The woman recognized that God was acting in and speaking through Elijah. God delivered David (Ps 30:2-4), overturning his dire situation (Ps 30:12), and David recognized his proper response: “So that my glory may praise you and not be silent. O Lord, my God, forever will I give you thanks.” (Ps 30:13). By God’s amazing salvific work in his life, David had become a grateful and zealous proclaimer of God’s glory.

Wonders turn people around. The widow at Zarephath had become bitter against Elijah when her son died. Recognizing him as a man of God, she would have become bitter against God as well. “Why have you done this to me, man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?” (1 Kgs 17:18). But because of the wonder of Elijah bringing her son back to life, she then affirmed, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God” (1 Kgs 17:24a), and she became open to God’s words through him (1 Kgs 17:24b).

In the case of Saul, God directly and dramatically intervened in his life, and totally turned him around. He became Paul. He was totally transformed, from his “former way of life in Judaism, how (he) persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it” (Gal 1:13), to the zealous apostle who would “proclaim him to the Gentiles” (Gal 1:16b). The greatest persecutor of Christians had become the greatest proclaimer of Christ.

Today, with a secular society and a disbelieving world, signs and wonders are even more important in bringing people to God. So how about you? We might not be called on to raise the dead, but we certainly can do wonders as God acts in and through us. Jesus himself has assured us, that our faith will work wonders (Jn 14:12).

Such wonders that can help bring people to faith in God would be such things as our total transformation in Christ, which many people, especially those who know us, could consider miraculous, a transition from death to life. People need to be able to conclude that “God has visited his people.” (Lk 7:16c). People can then become more open to the gospel, revealed through us. “A great prophet has arisen in our midst” (Lk 7:16b).

We must know that God has commissioned us, and so will empower us. We are just His instruments. We go not on our own strength but on God’s. We do God’s work, and “the gospel preached by (us) is not of human origin.” (Gal 1:11). Thus we need to be intimately connected with God. We pray, knowing that what we ask for in Jesus’ name will be granted. Then we, and those we are trying to reach, can experience the wonders of God. “The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child’s body and he lived.” (1 Kgs 17:22).

Faith works wonders, and such wonders stir up faith. Let the gospel of salvation in Jesus be proclaimed to all, and let all be awed by the glorious wonders of God. “This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.” (Lk 7:17).

*     *     *

To be recited jointly on 8 June 2013 in all cathedrals, churches, chapels in the Philippines with as many of the Catholic Faithful present. And, on the following four FIRST SATURDAYS, IN July, August, September, and October, to be jointly recited again, to complete the FIVE FIRST SATURDAYS ASKED FOR BY THE Blessed Mother of Fatima.

„We have recourse to your protection, o holy Mother of God.‰ As we recite the words of this antiphon with which the Church of Christ has prayed for centuries, we find ourselves today before you, our mother, in this Year of Faith. We , who make up the „Body of Christ‰ present in our land, recite the words of this present Act of Consecration and Entrustment, in which we gather, first of all, the hopes and anxieties of our Filipino people, at this moment of our history.

Mother of our people, we who rejoice in the name, „Pueblo amante de Maria, „ – a people who love Mary, bayang sumisinta kay Maria – you know all our sufferings and our hopes, you who have a mother‚s awareness of all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which afflict the world today. Mother of our people, accept the cry which we, deeply moved by the Holy Spirit, address directly to your heart.

Embrace, with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, our people and our land, which now we entrust and consecrate to you, for we are truly concerned for the earthly and eternal destiny of every individual among us and for all our people.

„We have recourse to your protection, o holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities.‰

Behold, as we gather before you, Mother of Christ, – as we gather before your Immaculate Heart, we desire, the Church of the Lord in our land, joined in heart and mind with all our people, isang bayang Pilipino, – to unite ourselves, which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to the Father, Œ or their sake,‚ he said,‚I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth [Jn 17:19]. We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this consecration for the world and for the entire human race, which, in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation.

The power of this consecration by your Son, Our Lord, lasts for all time and embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. Thus also it embraces our people and our land. The power of this consecration overcomes every evil that the spirit of darkness is able to waken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in the hearts of men and women in human history.

How deeply we feel the need for the consecration of our people, in union with Christ Jesus himself. For the redeeming work of our Redeemer must be shared in and by the world, by our own people, through the Church.

We turn to you, Mother of our Redeemer and our Mother: above all creatures may you be blessed, – you, the Handmaid of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed the divine call. Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your Son.

Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope and Love! Help us to live the truth of the consecration offered by Jesus your Son for the entire human family, and for us, the Filipino people and for our beloved land.

In entrusting to you, O Mother, our people, your „pueblo amante de Maria,‰ we entrust to you this very consecration itself, placing it in your motherly heart.

Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the threat of evil, which so easily enters and takes root in the hearts of people today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down on our country, and seem to block the paths toward the future!

From hatred, violence, conflicts which divide and destroy our people, deliver us. From the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us. From every kind of injustice in the life of society, deliver us. From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry, laden with, the hopes and burdens, the sufferings of each one of us, and of all our people. Help us, with the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome and conquer all sin: individual sins, Œsocial sins‚ and Œthe sin of the world‚, – sin in all its manifestations.

Let there be revealed once more, in our own history as a people, the infinite power of the Redemption, the power of God‚s merciful Love! May it destroy the power of sin and evil among us! May it transform consciences! May it change hearts to the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, and your own heart! May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all, in our land and through all the world, the light of hope! O Mary, Mother of Jesus and our mother, our life, our sweetness and our hope!

Adapted for our 8 June 2013 „National/Philippines Act of Consecration/Entrustment to the Immaculate Heart of Mary‰ Shortened and directed to our present context, from the „official  act of consecration‰ written by Blessed John Paul II himself 25 March 1984, Feast of the Annunciation. It was meant to be offered by himself and all the bishops of the Catholic Church. Our Philippine hierarchy, led by Cardinals Jaime Sin of Manila and Ricardo Vidal of Cebu, in the name of all of us in the Church in the Philippines, took official part in this solemn act of offering.

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