By Fr Roberto C Yap SJ, XU President
[Delivered during the 22nd University Service Awards on January 28, 2015]
Distinguished Service Awardees, honorable retirees, my co-workers at XU: Maayong hapon!
Pasensiya na mo kay gihilantan ra ba ko. Duha na ni ka semana ang akong hilanat. Hangtod karon gihilantan pa ko og … Francis Fever. Busa, palihog tugoti ko nga mo-ambit sa tulo ka paborito nako nga mensahe gikan kang Pope Francis sa iyang pagbisita sa Pilipinas. Three messages which I found very relevant as members of the XU community. First, “Do not lose the ability to dream!” Second, “Use in harmony the three languages of head, heart and hands.” Third, “Appreciate your profound dignity as Filipinos!” These messages he spoke extemporaneously, setting aside his prepared written talks. These messages he said in Spanish, the language that our Holy Father uses when he wants to speak from his heart.
The first message: “Do not lose the ability to dream!” He gave this message during the encounter with families at the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday, January 16.
The Pope said: “I am very fond of dreams in families. For nine months every mother and father dream about their baby… They dream about what kind of child he or she will be... You can’t have a family without dreams. Once a family loses the ability to dream, children do not grow, love does not grow, life shrivels up and dies. So I ask you, each evening, when you make your examination of conscience, to also ask yourselves this question: Today did I dream about my children’s future? Today did I dream about the love of my husband, my wife? Did I dream about my parents and grandparents who have gone before me? Dreaming is very important. Especially dreaming in families. Do not lose this ability to dream!”
Pope Francis gave this message in reference to Saint Joseph. Our Holy Father said, “The Scriptures seldom speak of Saint Joseph, but when they do, we often find him resting, as an angel reveals God’s will to him in his dreams. … I would also like to tell you something very personal. I have great love for Saint Joseph, because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table I have an image of Saint Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the Church! Yes! We know that he can do that. So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath Saint Joseph, so that he can dream about it! In other words I tell him: Pray for this problem!”
My good XU friends, dreaming is important not only for families, but dreaming is also important for a university community—dreaming in Ateneo de Cagayan. Let us always dream of the care we wish to give our students. Let us always dream of the companionship we wish to share with our co-workers. Let us always dream of our ideals: excelling academically, serving the Faith, promoting justice, reaching out to the poor, dialoguing with cultures and religions, protecting the environment, engaging the frontiers, going to the peripheries. Let us always dream of our vision of “a leading ASEAN university forming leaders of character by 2033.” May Xavier never lose the ability to dream!
The second message: “Use in harmony the three languages of head, heart and hands.” He gave this message during his encounter with the youth at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) on Sunday, January 18.
The Pope said, “Then came Leandro Santos and his question. He also posed a good question: the world of information. Today, with so many means of communication we are overloaded with information. Is that bad? No. It is good and can help. But there is a real danger of living in a way that we accumulate information. We have so much information but maybe we don’t know what to do with that information. So we run the risk of becoming museums of young people who have everything but not knowing what to do with it. We don’t need young museums but we do need holy young people. You may ask me: Father, how do we become saints? This is another challenge. It is the challenge of love. What is the most important subject you have to learn at university? What is the most important subject you have to learn in life? To learn how to love. This is the challenge that life offers you: to learn how to love. Not just to accumulate information without knowing what to do with it. But through that love, let that information bear fruit.
“For this, the Gospel offers us a serene way forward: using the three languages of the mind, heart and hands – and to use them in harmony. What you think, you must feel and put into effect. Your information comes down to your heart and you put it into practice. Harmoniously. What you think, you feel and you do. Feel what you think and feel what you do. Do what you think and what you feel. The three languages... To think. To feel. To do. And all in harmony... Remember: No young museums but wise young people. To be wise, use three languages: Think well, feel well and do well.”
My good XU friends, let us always strive to use the three languages of head, heart and hands for the education we try to facilitate at Xavier. That all of us will always think well, feel well and do well. That we think good, feel good, and do good. That we use these three languages in harmony. That we feel what we think and we feel what we do. That we do what we think and do what we feel. May there be coherence between our head, our heart and our hands.
The third message: “Appreciate your profound dignity as Filipinos!” He gave this message in answer to the first question asked of him during his encounter with the Jesuits at the Nunciature on the evening of Friday, the 16th of January.
Padre Jorge Mario Bergolio, our brother Jesuit was asked, “What do you think of our country, the Philippines?” He spoke deeply about the Filipinos he has meet in Argentina and Rome. He mentioned that at Santa Marta, where he lives in Rome, some of the receptionists and some kitchen workers are Filipinos. He shared how impressed he was of their readiness for service; of how well they spoke of their parents and their families, and most affectionately of their lolos and lolas; of their piety and devotion to the Rosary. For a few moments, he was struggling to find the right words, then he told the Jesuits that… there is a profound dignity in the Filipino soul.
At his press conference on the PAL flight from Manila back to Rome, Pope Francis elaborates on this profound dignity of the Filipino. The first question was from Kara David (GMA Network): “Good day Holy Father. Sorry, I will speak in English. Thank you very much for visiting our country and for giving so much hope to the Filipinos. We would like you to come back to our country. My question is: The Filipinos have learned a lot from listening to your messages, is there something the Holy Father has learned from the Filipinos, from your encounter with us?”
The Pope answered: “The gestures! The gestures moved me. They are not protocol gestures, they are good gestures, felt gestures, gestures of the heart. Some almost make one weep.” (A journalist noted that the Pope said this with tears welling up in his eyes). “There’s everything there: faith, love, the family, the future. That gesture of the fathers who think of their children so that the Pope will bless them. Not one gesture, there were fathers, there were many who thought of their children when we passed by on the road, a gesture which in other places one does not see, as if they say this is my treasure, this is my future, this is my love, for this one it’s worth working, for this one it’s worth suffering. A gesture that is original but born from the heart.
“A second gesture that struck me very much is an enthusiasm that is not faked, a joy, a happiness (allegria), a capacity to celebrate. Even under the rain, one of the masters of ceremonies told me that he was edified because those who were serving never lost the smile on their faces. It’s the joy, not contrived joy. It wasn’t a painted (false) smile. No, no! It was a smile that just came, and behind that smile there is a normal life, there are pains, problems.
“Then there were the gestures of the mothers who brought their sick children. Indeed mothers in general bring them there, but usually mothers do not lift the children up so much, only up to here. The fathers do, one sees them. Here los padres! Then many disabled children, with disabilities that make some impression; they did not hide the children, they brought them to the Pope so that he would bless them. This is my child, he/she is mine. All mothers know this, they do this. But it’s the way they did this that struck me. The gesture of motherhood, of fatherhood, of enthusiasm, of joy.
“There’s a word that’s difficult for us to understand because it has been vulgarized too much, used too badly, too badly understood, but it’s a word that has substance: resignation. A people who knows how to suffer, and is capable of rising up.
“Yesterday, I was edified at the talk I had with the father of Kristel, the young woman volunteer who died in Tacloban. He said she died in service, he was seeking words to confirm himself to this situation, to accept it. A people who know how to suffer; that’s what I saw and how I interpreted the gestures.”
Appreciate our profound dignity as Filipinos. My good XU friends, may we always value our deep dignity as Filipinos, a dignity rooted in faith, love, family, the future. Let us lift up our children and our students and say from our hearts: Here are our treasures, these are our future, these are what make working and suffering worthwhile. Let us live with genuine enthusiasm, joy, happiness, and celebration. May we always be a people who know how to suffer and are able to get back on our feet and get on with life.
This afternoon, we salute our awardees who have served Xavier for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 (Marilyn Oliva), 45 years (Manny Gomez), Emeritus Awardee (Julieta Berdon). Daghan kaayong salamat for your loyal and generous service. Do not lose your ability to dream. Strive to use harmoniously the three languages of head, heart and hands. Always appreciate our dignity as Filipinos.
We especially honor our 10 friends who have retired or about to retire this school year: Inocencia Balandra, Estrella Borja, Mario Belarmino, Teresa Duetes, Estrella Gadian, Fe Gomez, Danilo Kiamco, Editha Langreo, Susan Nanaman, and Albert Vamenta. We are grateful to you for continuing to dream for XU. We are grateful to you for thinking well, feeling well, and doing well. We are grateful to you for celebrating the beauty and goodness of our common humanity as Filipinos. My dear retirees, please rise and allow us to give you another round of applause. Thank you so much.
As we promised him, let us continue to pray for Pope Francis. Let us also keep each other in our prayers. Mga igsoon, daghang salamat ug maayong hapon sa inyong tanan.