Claretian Priest Concludes Series of Talk on Pastoral Leadership
I CANNOT SLEEP. It is not a sleeplessness that accompanies anxiety, but one that is buoyed by joy. Shortly before 9 pm, my brother Sunny and his wife Marie surprised me with an unannounced visit. Bruno would not stop barking and I almost lost my cool because I was in the middle of our Liturgical Bible Study (LBS). (I’ll have to seriously research on the various imports of dogs’ barks to really relate to my canine companion.) I had to leave our reset learning session on their behalf because they were going to back to Laguna after dinner, which was a wee portion of their Jollibee pasalubong. I hurriedly wrote a note in the zoom room and focused my undivided attention on my (last living) brother and his wife.
They further diverted my mild depression. The first diversion being earlier with Mom, Ate Myla, and Sis Tes at the third and last talk on Pastoral Leadership by Fr. Alex Gobrin, CMF, at the Immaculate Conception Parish in North Susana Executive Village, Old Balara. Fr. Alex’s final take on his talk series was understandably laden with more humor and did not make me feel drowsy, even if the brown Kopiko had nothing to do with it (the first time I missed Bro Aldriene’s brew).
Before we went there, I received a call which caused me sadness for a misunderstood Kasambahay who was not only losing her job but also a huge chunk of her first and last salary. My companions in the short trip to the Leadership seminar was directly the opposite of the sad state of the poor woman who only wanted to be of service to a fellow human, in exchange for a commensurate salary, which did not happen. I tuned out the depression through exchanging happy tidbits with the three joyful ladies I was with. The cheer continued even when we arrived at the venue, and Fr. Alex had already started with his introduction of the last two modules of his talk. I quickly asked Ate Myla to help me with recording the proceeding and, having accomplished that, sat back and started to take down notes.
I’m a huge advocate of events in my life being non-accidents. Therefore, the first word that I wrote down on my notebook came from Fr. Alex’s mouth: change. My favorite word is an action term which is also indicative of growth or, without it, “ang tao ay aalikabukin o aamagin,” he posited. It is a positive idea because it reminds him of a priest who “dati, halos hindi marunong magsalita sa” public but now takes almost an hour to deliver his homily.
Nakakatuwa kung may pagbabago sa mga kasamahan gaya ng BEC, a subject very close to my heart for reasons I’ve often posted on fb, with accompanying posterity photos.
He said foreigners are amazed at how Filipinos do not hide anger and our ability to throw tantrums at will. Which is why it takes 12 years to be a priest. Because the more painful the experience, the more growth takes place.
Personal transformation is not an overnight event, like when Rome was built. It means not running out of patience, but persevering in humility in journeying with the people of God.
He mentioned Jacob wrestling with an angel. We should never be the same, as in stagnant. New to my work-in-progress Bible-study consciousness, I researched Jacob and agreed with his premise wholeheartedly. That the inequality perplexes is for the reader to plumb: the angel wounding the man and at the same time blessing him. Really and truly, we benefit from those who were ahead of us. We are participants of Missio Dei. Because we are all pilgrims, journeyers on earth while dialoguing with the Church and the people of God. Our mission can only be accomplished by listening to one another and to the Holy Spirit.
We also learn from the Theory of the Youth. Whose appreciative inquiry’s positive results defeat the negative. Because the process asks the self not the other. Fr. Alex illustrated this through Kotter’s 8 steps of leading change in institutions.
We need to discern, he says, in order to grow and lead, and not be misled by today’s drama, which is a lack of discernment. For, nowadays, people prefer quick fixes, like instant coffee (second time I missed Bro Aldy’s brew) with no regard for helpful instructions. (I instantly understood why Bro Aldy preferred personally being our private barista with his brew paraphernalia, even when he is up next to deliver a talk). Or discerning, praying, and understanding.
This portion of Fr. Alex’s talk took me back to a tricky test on following instructions. Items 1 to 20 mobilized the people taking the quiz into action and noise for sometime when all that needed to be done were answer instructions number 1, 2, and 18, and then sit back quietly without telling anyone. Unless a participant has had prior knowledge of the process, no one gets the quiz right. I was happy to note being one of the many hoodwinked test-takers because it taught me to mind not only labels but also instructions that come with them. Pays off in the end.
Prayer is a learned process. Like basketball IQ. Humility figures largely in discernment IQ vs MENSA mindsetting. Don’t ask me why my average acumen hasn’t calculated this yet.
But I was enormously enlightened by his favorite “butas na pantulog, may amoy na!” Really relatable to my Einstein son.
It is really up to us to determine God’s will. Good versus bad is elementary enough, but good versus good needs a second think coming, an interior search for the answer, a discernment of spirits. He gave us sources of succor Benedictine and Ignatian modes of enlightenment.
He aptly concluded his third talk with “Jesus died because of our brokenness, not our beauty, which we ourselves broke.” Indeed, His no-other-like leading did not deserve our frail following.
Amen.
