WE HAVE to find ways to help those who are in transition from one level of their education to the next or from their formal education to the beginning of their professional life.
We, of course, have to reassure them that everything will be all right, as long as the necessary prudential norms are taken. They have to be welcoming to the new experiences they will be having, together with their new freedom as well as their new responsibilities.
Nowadays, with the way the developments are taking place, we have to embolden them to face the challenge of the many new opportunities with a stout heart, while at the same time pointing out the possible dangers these opportunities can also occasion.
To face this challenge, we all need to constantly monitor things, discerning where they come from and where they are going, what spirit and ethos animates them, what messages or warnings the signs of the times are giving us. As much as possible, we have to be pro-active or anticipative in this regard, not simply reactive.
Our faith urges us to be always watchful. As Christ once said, we need to be shrewd as serpents even as we also should remain innocent as doves. We have to learn to contend with the reality that while we may be sowing good seed, some bad elements will also sow weeds. Yes, we have to be patient and strong, but not naïve.
That is why, more than anything else, we have to help those concerned to strengthen themselves spiritually, always seeing to it that their relationship with God who is everything to us is made more firm.
We need to understand that one’s relationship is established and nourished when he learns how to pray, how to make sacrifices, how to have recourse to the sacraments, how to deepen his knowledge of the faith, how to lead a moral life consistent with that faith, etc.
What is certainly helpful in this task is for us to be firmly grounded on our faith, which gives us a complete picture of what is truly proper to us, and at the same time, to be very open-minded so we can promptly catch the winds of change and adjust our sails according to a pre-determined course.
We should try to avoid the extremes of mindless and heartless rigidity, on the one hand, and undirected flexibility, on the other. For sure, if we know our faith well, this is what we will learn.
Our faith teaches us to be constant in doing good, while patient in going through the twists and turns of our freedom. We have to learn how to flow with the times without getting lost. In a sense, we should try to be sport in this task. We will make many attempts to win in some way, but we should know how to move on even after some defeats.
Our faith will teach us to continue to evangelize the world, always adapting our evangelization to the new sensitivities of the people. “Non novus sed noviter,” we are told, preaching not new things but in a new way.
In this concern, everyone should help one another. The families, the schools, the parishes and other institutions should be properly equipped to extend the help that everyone needs.
Those concerned should be helped to learn how to open up to some competent people so that they can be more effectively helped in their concrete personal issues, difficulties and problems. The practice of personal spiritual direction should be fostered.
That’s why everything should be done to encourage personal friendship and dialogue that is inspired by the Christian spirit.
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Fr. Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise, Talamban, Cebu City (roycimagala@gmail.com)/PN
