Friday, February 8, 2008

A BOSCONIAN, A TRUE LOVER

“Love is so short but forgetting is so long”
“Mi vida est toda de amor
y si en amor estoy ducho,
es por fuerza del dolor,
que no hay amante mejor
que aquel que ha sufrido mucho”


For two days already the Gospel of our Lord repeated a word, a very important word that we should do especially at this point. LISTEN! My dear fellows we have to listen.

You might be wondering about the Spanish verses I exclaimed earlier, allow me to translate it to you in English and it goes:

“My life is consists in loving,
and if with loving I’m familiar,
it is because I’ve sorrowed much;
for there’s no finer lover,
than one who’s suffered much.”

I have been living with this principle for 6 years already. But it was until this year that I truly understand its meaning.
LOVING is just so hard to understand. All along I thought that it is but sufficient to just give yourself, enduring all the sacrifices and sorrows attached to it, but that is not love alone. Rather, it is martyrdom which is self-seeking. For this kind of love settles on the need to be appreciated, a matter of fulfillment on one’s pride.
Love should be understood as charity, a kind of love, which allows others to love in return. In addition love also entails one’s readiness to detach oneself, to depart for the sake of love.
The Lord died on the cross to save us, to redeem us, to show how much He really loves us. Salesians too suffered much on building this structure, on rebuilding Sta.Cruz, they did save us, and they did redeem us, a true showcase of love. But it doesn’t stop there. Jesus left. But before ascending to heaven, the Lord said:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always until the end of age.”
Matthew 28: 17-20

Yes, He left us but He made a promise: “And behold I am with you always until the end of age”.
This is how a finer lover should be defined. A lover whose willingness to offer oneself lies primarily to his wanting to let others showcase their own love to their neighbors. A lover who is ready to endure the pain of letting go and he does it because of love.

Until now, I know many of you find this too hard. And I have to admit that a part of me feels the same. My heart is being torn into pieces every time I remember that after 2010 I have no more Don Bosco Sta. Cruz, nevertheless a part of me is saying: “It is finished”. The people who administers and who will administers what the Salesians left are also competent they are brothers for we only live on one same roof. And that alone justifies our resiliency. We have to give our hope, our faith to them. On his latest Encyclical, Spe Salvi, the Holy See defined hope, as trustworthy hope. He cited the Letters to the Hebrews wherein it closely links the “fullness of faith” to the “confession of our hope without wavering”. He established it clearly that “hope” is equivalent to “faith”. And this is the hope we have to give to them.
I would like to end my speech with this challenge. My dear fellows, To be known as a TRUE BOSCONIAN relies not because of this structure alone rather a TRUE BOSCONIAN is identified because of his deed, exemplary actions that permeates from within which arises from the heart because of love. We and not this structure are the living testaments of Don Bosco Sta. Cruz. The question lies on us; do we really live by it? WE ARE THE LIVING TESTEMENT AND THERE ARE NOBODY ELSE. Prove it!
(Speech delivered last January 31, 2008 during the Foundation Day Celebration of Don Bosco High School, Sta. Cruz, Laguna)

No comments: