For 20 years now, I have been following the work of William Damon, an esteemed authority in moral psychology. What is interesting in his work is the focus on youth development, particularly their moral character that leads to moral commitment.
A philosophy of education and formation is that the process must help the youth discover their mission—or in the words of a spiritual mentor, Fr. Frank Reilly, S.J., “help the youth of the high school discover Christ in their life.”
Damon suggests that we must challenge the youth by raising the bar of excellence. As the title of one of his books says, “Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in America’s Homes and Schools.”
In his latest book, “The Power of Ideals: The Real Story of Moral Choice,” written with his wife, Anne Colby, they propose “exemplar methodology” as an alternative to the “new science” of moral psychology which uses hypothetical cases. They present the stories of exemplary moral leaders for the youth— for all of us—to emulate.
Another recent book that uses a similar approach is “The Road to Character” by David Brooks, which likewise presents the stories of great leaders who lived in a time that “demanded humility in the face of our own limitations … a tradition that held that each of us has the power to confront our own weaknesses, tackle our own sins, and that, in the course of this confrontation with ourselves, we build character … build virtue in ourselves and be of service to the world.”
‘Follow me’
Today’s Gospel presents the same framework of setting greater expectations, and the invitation to build virtue and be of service to the world.
The rich young man is most certainly a man who had lived a good life. As he tells Christ who laid out the commandments to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” He then asks, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Then the greater expectations are set: “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor… then come, follow me.”
Where all of these thoughts converge—Damon, Brooks and Christ’s—is that virtue, moral character, is to lead to a commitment to serve. For Christ, there is a clear process of living a good or virtuous life following moral precepts. This is crowned by the great virtue of detachment or indifference, which leads us to the main event: the following of Christ.
Christ lays out a clear pattern, a pattern echoed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in his emphasis on detachment or ridding oneself of inordinate attachments. This leads to a general stance of what he calls indifference; not an apathetic stance, but an indifference where the only thing that matters is to follow God’s will.
In the words of Christ in today’s Gospel: “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” The heart and soul of the matter is “follow me.”
Rootedness
In Ignatius’ story, his following of Christ was synthesized in his sharing in Christ’s mission to save souls. For Ignatius, this was the focus, the core of the mission, because it is what leads to union with God. This was the clear, solid core where his life and mission, and that of the Jesuit order, were rooted and grounded in.
Interestingly enough, it is this clear grounding and rootedness that allowed the Jesuits to be pioneering, constantly breaking new ground and getting out of their comfort zone—often to the discomfort of others. It was this solid, steely core that resulted in flexibility to be creative and create a better world.
The same is true of men and women who took risks because they believed in the vision and mission they have seen and committed to—those who sold everything and followed their dream, followed Christ.
Our story
Our story as a people and nation is an unfinished story. It was written by the young Filipino students in the classrooms of Manila and Europe, and picked up and added to by many other young Filipinos who joined the Katipunan and the revolution.
With attempts to rewrite it— by the American period and martial law—the inspiration refuses to die, and the story refuses to be changed and suppressed. We must not let it be suppressed and changed. It will be a disservice to those whose life stories are stories of heroic efforts to gain independence for us.
Moreover, it will be a disservice to the millions of Filipino youths under 24 years old—53 percent of the population or almost 57 million Filipinos (as of 2014)—who have a vague notion of our story as a people.
This is why stories of heroic lives are important. Christ used stories as his most effective tools to warm the hearts of others.
Today’s Gospel is a reminder that we must remember stories that build virtue and influence us to be of service to the world. These are the stories that inspire and challenge us.