I had the pleasure of watching a Dominican and a Jesuit priest, Father Mullady and Father Pakwa respectively, on EWTN last week discussing animatedly fundamental questions relating to God in Ethics, Epistemology and Metaphysics which brought back fond reminiscences of similar vein in the Philosophy Circle of my student days and subsequent stint as faculty host and moderator of the radio program at the Catholic University of Santo Tomas ( which is celebrating its quadricentennial this year) called UST Mailbox over Radio Veritas Philippines. It's been almost forty years since I fell in love with philosophy by accident, courtesy of Dr. Ariston Estrada--the formidable, brilliant and Aristotlelian-Scholastic-Thomistic head of the Philosophy Department of the Faculty of Arts & Letters--who visited all the sophomore classes during my time in order to recruit us into majoring in philosophy which was a dying breed in those days (as it is today, except maybe in the seminaries where it's still the main component of the students' intellectual formation) by explaining to us what philosophy is and is not. I knew that the prospects of me becoming either a journalist or lawyer then were dim because the Philippines was under martial law. Or, perhaps, I was still harboring the faint dream (which was squelched in high school by my Dad) of becoming a priest, like Father Frederick Fermin O.P., our beloved dean who became the rector of the university and my trusted friend later, which made me an easy target. But for whatever reason that made me choose philosophy as my undergraduate major, today, I have no doubt in my mind that it was the perfect choice for me at that time, as part of my survival instinct to rationalize and repress my memories of child abuse.
Thus, it pains me when I read recurring news about priests, who after eigth years of rigorous philosophical and theological study, still abusing innocent children. And, even though my respect and kind regard for good priests have not diminished, the bad or even just the proud, materialistic, prejudiced and unscrupulous ones always leave an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Why? Maybe because I've always wanted to become a priest myself since I was in 3rd grade. In fact, at that age, I used to gather all the children in our neiborhood and celebrated a make-believe Mass and led them in a Lenten procession with Jesus carrying His Cross that culminated in the Easter reenactment of the meeting of the Risen Christ and His Mother Mary we called salubong back home. Even now, although I'm not qualified for priesthood, I will probably quit selling real estate and be first in line to try and apply anyway, if ever the Vatican permitted married men to be ordained as priests. So, why did God allow these men to be annointed anyway, knowing fully well that they will turn out to be pedophile priests? Similarly, how come the Lord allowed the horrible abuse to happen to a ten year old boy like myself? Or, again, why did Jesus Who is all-omnipotent choose Judas Iscariot to be one of his disciples knowing that he would betray and cause Him to undergo brutal suffering and death when He could easily save us by simply uttering the Word? And, again, how can I possibly forgive, much more love, all my enemies or every person who has done me wrong in the past, and follow the example of Jesus on the Cross?
Unfortunately or fortunately, no amount of Logic--the science of correct thinking which is a branch of philosophy, can satisfy these questions. You need to transcend reason to get a glimpse of an answer to those querries. And, even that is tantamount to just scratching the surface of the Mind of God. Philosophy which is defined in some circles as the science which by the natural light of reason studies the first causes and highest principles of all things is no match (and so is natural science, by the way) to the all-encompassing omniscience of the Supreme Being. And, a denial of the very existence of God could easily be reduced to an eclipse of reason or absurdity. No God, then there is absolutely nothing, that is, there is nothing to be discussed, not even evolution!
For me, the Good News are contained in the Words of the Almighty in the Bible, like for instance: " Look at the birds in the sky...the flowers in the field... they neither toil nor spin...but our Father in heaven takes care of them.." If so, then I don't have to worry about anything, much less find satisfaction in my arguments because, as long as I trust in God's Words, then He'll provide for all my needs (and believe it or not, including my intellectual needs through the gifts of knowledge, wisdom and discernment from the Holy Spirit.) That is why, it's enough that I follow and ask Him to give me my daily bread or blessing. And, I can and shall rest in His Spirit knowing that He will never forsake me because He's my Great Provider... my Risen Lord... and my Personal Savior.
Thus, it pains me when I read recurring news about priests, who after eigth years of rigorous philosophical and theological study, still abusing innocent children. And, even though my respect and kind regard for good priests have not diminished, the bad or even just the proud, materialistic, prejudiced and unscrupulous ones always leave an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Why? Maybe because I've always wanted to become a priest myself since I was in 3rd grade. In fact, at that age, I used to gather all the children in our neiborhood and celebrated a make-believe Mass and led them in a Lenten procession with Jesus carrying His Cross that culminated in the Easter reenactment of the meeting of the Risen Christ and His Mother Mary we called salubong back home. Even now, although I'm not qualified for priesthood, I will probably quit selling real estate and be first in line to try and apply anyway, if ever the Vatican permitted married men to be ordained as priests. So, why did God allow these men to be annointed anyway, knowing fully well that they will turn out to be pedophile priests? Similarly, how come the Lord allowed the horrible abuse to happen to a ten year old boy like myself? Or, again, why did Jesus Who is all-omnipotent choose Judas Iscariot to be one of his disciples knowing that he would betray and cause Him to undergo brutal suffering and death when He could easily save us by simply uttering the Word? And, again, how can I possibly forgive, much more love, all my enemies or every person who has done me wrong in the past, and follow the example of Jesus on the Cross?
Unfortunately or fortunately, no amount of Logic--the science of correct thinking which is a branch of philosophy, can satisfy these questions. You need to transcend reason to get a glimpse of an answer to those querries. And, even that is tantamount to just scratching the surface of the Mind of God. Philosophy which is defined in some circles as the science which by the natural light of reason studies the first causes and highest principles of all things is no match (and so is natural science, by the way) to the all-encompassing omniscience of the Supreme Being. And, a denial of the very existence of God could easily be reduced to an eclipse of reason or absurdity. No God, then there is absolutely nothing, that is, there is nothing to be discussed, not even evolution!
For me, the Good News are contained in the Words of the Almighty in the Bible, like for instance: " Look at the birds in the sky...the flowers in the field... they neither toil nor spin...but our Father in heaven takes care of them.." If so, then I don't have to worry about anything, much less find satisfaction in my arguments because, as long as I trust in God's Words, then He'll provide for all my needs (and believe it or not, including my intellectual needs through the gifts of knowledge, wisdom and discernment from the Holy Spirit.) That is why, it's enough that I follow and ask Him to give me my daily bread or blessing. And, I can and shall rest in His Spirit knowing that He will never forsake me because He's my Great Provider... my Risen Lord... and my Personal Savior.
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