Dec. 7, 2003
Alumni Mass 10:30 am
Here we are, we are still waiting for the beloved. But is that all there
is to waiting? Did he not, during that same last supper, put on an apron,
take a basin with water, and wash their feet? Did he not say "I give you
an example that you may do, as I have done to you.?" Maybe the point is
that, while we WAIT FOR him, we also WAIT ON one another, i.e., serve one
another.
Waiting on one another-this is the key to making home. There is nothing to
wait for in the hereafter if we have not waited on one another in the here
and now.
We read a lot of names in today's Gospel, names of people who wielded power
over the Jewish people in the time of Jesus. And yet, Luke mentions them
only in passing, and forgets about them all together. Perhaps this was his
way of saying, "The change that you dream about will not happen through
your leaders. You have to make it happen by starting with yourselves."
He could have meant this for the Filipinos too.
It was from a Jesuit that I first heard this testament of an old man,
When I was much younger, I wanted to change the world
Then I got older and I wanted to change my country
Then I got even older and I wanted to change by family.
Now I am much older, and all I want is really to change myself.
Perhaps if I had started with myself, then I would have managed to change a
little bit of my family, my country, and the world.
What would it take to make this world into a home not just for humankind,
but for all other fellow creatures as well? WE MUST CHANGE OURSELVES.
What would it take to make the Philippines into a home, not just for the
Zobels or the Cojuangcos, but for the Mang Pandoys as well? WE MUST CHANGE
OURSELVES.
What would it take to be at home where we are-in an office, in a school, in
a workplace, in a family? WE MUST CHANGE OURSELVES.
It takes many adventures, I suppose, like those of the Little Prince who
felt estranged from his beloved rose. And always, there is a huge space to
travel, a long desert to traverse, a vast ocean to cross, a mountain to
climb. a big distance between the mind and the heart, between a man and his
wife, between families, political parties, races and creeds.
People used to ask me in many different ways if being at home is a matter
of chance or a matter of choice. I used to say it is 50% choice, and 50%
chance. Now I am more and more convinced it is actually 100% chance and
100% choice.
How then can we not call this a HOMECOMING, you all made a choice to be
here today? May every choice we make, and every chance we take, be a step
closer to the home we all are longing for.
