To Let It Begin With SSC-1970

Des was so moved after hearing Fr. Danny Huang's reflection at the community mass in Ateneo last Sunday in honor of St. Ignatius that she couldn't sleep that night, she had to write the letter below.

July 31, 2005, Sunday

To My Dear Classmates of SSC HS 70,

Today, at the Feast day mass in honor of St. Ignatius de Loyola at the Ateneo High School Covered Court, I was deeply moved by the homily of Fr. Danilo Huang, S.J., Father Provincial of the Jesuits in the Philippines. This very young and energetic priest articulated 3 points in line with the gospel of Matthew on the multiplication of the loaves and fish -- the reality in the Philippines today, the Jesuits in the Philippines and St. Ignatius.

He cited that in a recent Catholic Identity Survey that the Jesuit Order in the Philippines commissioned, some interesting findings were highlighted. Respondents to the survey were faculty and students in the various provincials like Ateneo de Davao, Ateneo de Zamboanga, Xavier in Cebu, etc. The questions posed were: Would you prefer to be a Filipino Citizen or a Foreign Citizen? To which majority still opted for nationalism (85 -90%). But, to the query as to whether they wanted to work here or abroad --- 58 to 60+% already preferred the latter.

The sensing in these findings was that there was a pervasive feeling of "lack" such as lack of opportunities. This resonates in the present statistics of our SSC HS Class of 1970. A head count among us will show that there are more classmates abroad than here in the Philippines. And the diaspora has become more intense with the compounding crises each generation of leaders saddles the nation with.

It goes deep into the history of our multi-colonized country. It goes wide from the peculiar geography of separated islands to a babel of dialects and cultural divisiveness. Just consider that the Manilenos have more in common with the Los Angelenos in America than our Muslim brothers in Basilan.

And so, back to the gospel of the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish feeding a huge crowd of at least 5,000 hungry people. Jesus turned human impossibility to Divine Possibility. Perhaps His disciples were incredulous but they obeyed him anyway when he told them to get the few loaves and a couple of "palaman."

And so how, do we find a glimmer of hope in the analogy of the Philippine problem with the Ignatian way of addressing the situation.

Also in 3 ways. First, look up to God. As St. Ignatius said, when he goes up on the rooftop and looks up to the night sky as he was wont to do, he realizes how small the world is. A deep faith in God's power and might emboldens us. Second, see our giftedness and not our limitedness or lack. We should focus on our resources and talents which then brings us to the third part which is to SHARE it with a "thankful heart.".

And so, we ask God to break our resources and talents and multiply it for His greater glory. (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam)

As the survey showed Filipinos still want to keep their citizenship because they still passionately love the Philippines. But, the lack of opportunities brought about by the inequitable distribution of wealth and the victory of the exploitative forces in society has driven Filipinos to foreign shores to get a better deal.

The third question of the survey was --"Do you believe that there is still hope.?" I will not tell you the result of this one.

All I can say is, if we lose hope, we would have lost to the forces of darkness. They say it is darkest before the dawn. Let's light our candles again like we did many times before. In the First Quarter Storm of the 70's; in the Twilight of Democracy in '86; in the Struggle Against Decadence in 2002 and now in the Destructive Divisiveness of 2005.

Let us mend and heal. Let us remain united.

In Christ's Peace and Love,

Dess Allanigue Madsen