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(This is the fifth part of my essay entitled “The Political
Significance of Holy Week.” The first four parts discussed my view
of the Scriptures from which I base the conclusions below. The first
part was my column for last Saturday.)
All the ingredients of Christ’s political
message as revealed in the Scriptures and magnified by the events of
Holy Week have been implicitly supplied by the previous analysis.
With them, the skeletal structure to a scriptural solution to
political corruption has been constructed. This is encapsulated in
the following prayer during the agony in the garden from which a
complete solution may be fully fleshed out.
“I gave my disciples the same glory you gave
me so that they may be one just as you are one in me, so that they
may be completely one, in order that the world may know you sent me.
I in them you in me so that they may be completely one, in order
that the world may know you sent me and that you love them as you
love me.” (John 17:22-23)
His prayer explained why he gave his disciples
the same glory God gave him, which in turn outlined the role he
envisioned for his disciples and, consequently, the Church. He did
so in order that that they may be completely one with each other,
with him, and with God so that the world may know God sent and loved
him and that God loved the apostles just as much. These constitute
the elements by which they were to continue Christ’s mission of
salvation.
To be completely one, the disciples had to
instill in themselves the same inward self-realizing virtues of
solitude, contemplation, purification, surrender and inner peace,
which Christ possessed to perfection and achieved through intense
spiritual preparation. (Part 3 of my essay) They also had to
manifest the outward social and political virtues of wisdom,
humility, integrity, justice and compassion also to perfection.
(Part 4)
These virtues would enable them to preach
Christ’s message effectively which included informing the world of
the existence of the spiritual realm (Part 1), its primacy over the
earthly realm (Part 2) as well as the way to reach the spiritual
realm, which is by developing the inward and outward virtues.
In this article, I argue that the Catholic
Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) failed in the above
mission by their pastoral statements. It deviated from making known
Christ’s essentially spiritual message by giving specific moral
and political instructions.
This deviation, rather than solving the problem
of political corruption, promotes human or earthly justice at the
expense of compassion as well as sows the seeds of sin such as those
manifested in selfishness, superficiality, hypocrisy,
self-deception, deceit, ambition, self-righteousness, pride,
arrogance, vanity, bias, intolerance, envy, vengeance, mistrust,
anger, rage, fear, threat, intimidation, divisiveness and violence.
The CBCP, by its statements, erred in the
following manner: it misconstrued the Scriptures either in
interpretation or application. Arriving at a similar interpretation
of the Scriptures in terms of basic doctrines does not necessarily
result in agreement as to its proper application to earthly events.
Differing concrete conclusions may still be reached and separate
courses of action proposed.
This critique is internal, not external. I adopt
the same approach and avail of the same standards as the CBCP in
determining its earthly role, which is ultimately based on the
Scriptures. As such, I render myself particularly vulnerable since I
cannot claim expertise on religious matters.
I do not make the argument that the CBCP does
not have any special expertise on earthly matters. According to that
argument, the CBCP, by delving into such matters, may arrive at naïve
and erroneous political conclusions, rendered more harmful and
dangerous by the fact that many of its followers blindly accept and
apply them. This kind of critique is external, which, though
important, would be the subject of a different essay.
The argument, in outline, proceeds as follows.
The mission of the Church, as messengers of God and disciples of
Christ, is to continue Christ’s mission of salvation, by preaching
his message and living in accordance with the example of his life.
This is accomplished by its priests preparing for the mission by
realizing the inward virtues which leads to spiritual purification
and genuinely living the mission by manifesting the outward virtues
which culminate in compassion.
Thus, my interpretation of the Scriptures as to
their role does not merely entail prayer and meditation so necessary
for the instillation of the inward virtues, as monks exclusively
engage in. It involves immersion in the world by fully developing
the inward virtues so that they can genuinely manifest the outward
virtues leading to the world’s transformation from corruption
towards moral regeneration and individual fulfillment.
For this transformation to be effected, priests
must confine themselves to promoting and living the inward and
outward virtues which Christ realized to perfection. This is so for
two reasons: (i) to deviate from that course would be contrary to
the Scriptures; and (ii.) this is the most effective means to attain
such a transformation as to do otherwise would lead to more harm
than good. 
(To be continued)
eqfernando@hotmail.com
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