In 1993, I met a young couple who had just moved to the Bronx. The guy was starting his studies at Fordham University for an MA in Pastoral Ministry or Theology. The couple had both signed up for the choir of the Fordham Chapel.
I met the couple when the university chaplain invited them for dinner at the Jesuit Residence. I was then newly ordained and was sent to Fordham for my MS in Educational Administration. I must confess that their names escape me now, but the memories of the feelings and sentiments expressed in our conversations remain vivid.
They said they were happy to again be part of a church choir. Both were active in their old parish choir, which kicked them out when they started living together. They felt like lepers being excluded from the community they grew up in.
At Fordham, they felt welcome to be part of the community. The young lady said, “We are not bad people. We want to have a family and raise our children as good Catholics.”
I recalled that conversation after the recent news about the letter of over 60 Catholic clergy and scholars to Pope Francis “correcting” his views on the family and other issues, especially on his pastoral advice to consider allowing divorced and remarried couples to receive communion.
Reflections
Our reflections on this Sunday’s Gospel is about the Parable of the Better of the Two Bad Sons. Clearly it points out that the son who disobeyed the father’s command in word, but ended up obeying it in deed, was the better of the two sons.
Christ bluntly tells the chief priests and the elders how the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s Kingdom because they heard God’s call to repentance, the message of his mercy, forgiveness and compassion, and reformed their lives.
The same day I was mulling over these thoughts, I saw the press conferences of the opposing parties in the impeachment complaint filed against the Supreme Court Chief Justice.
All these made me think that not much has changed. The Pharisees, the chief priests and the elders of the people are still very much around. Christ laid it out clearly: “It is mercy I demand, not sacrifice.”
I look at the story of the couple, the letter to the Pope and the impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice, and I cannot help but feel all these run counter to the core of the Christian message of God’s mercy, forgiveness and compassion.
Lessons learned
There are two lessons I learned and took to heart in my Canon Law classes in the Theologate. One, learn to discern and interpret the law pastorally and if one will err, do so on the side of being pastoral.
Two, there is a very interesting precept in canon law, “in periculo mortis,” in danger of death, all laws collapse in favor of bringing God’s compassion, mercy and forgiveness to the one in danger of dying.
In the Philippines, fast approaching—if we are not there yet—is a situation of in periculo mortis where all laws will “collapse.” We are entering this period in which we will either disintegrate or go back to the core of our Christian faith.
A friend recounted that she attended several protest activities on Sept. 21 as an act of commitment to justice, freedom and democracy. The following Saturday she was in a baptism and asked one of the guests if she joined any of the activities the past weekend.
The guest replied that she had wanted to, but instead worked with a community to help them improve their services to the more marginalized members. The guest’s “punchline” was what made my friend think: “The protest is important and I am glad we are finally getting our act together. But I am doing my share in avoiding our failure since 1986 and I am trying not to forget the poor for whom we are taking a stand.” —CONTRIBUTED
