By: Erico Joseph T. Canete
SILENCE, REPENTANCE & LOVE ON EASTER AND BEYOND
I WAS INTRODUCED TO PHILOSOPHY during my tertiary years at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary. Our adept philosophy professors taught us how to reason out using Aristotle’s deductive way of thinking, validify knowledge, transcend in the world of being and its metaphysical properties, comprehend our essence in rational psychology, direct human actions to happiness, establish concord with others in society, learn the urstuff of the cosmos, and above all, prove God’s existence using reason like the quinque viae (5 ways) or the logical arguments of the existence of God by St. Thomas Aquinas.
The seed of loving Scholasticism started to grow unto our young minds, then.
Philosophy gave us the reason in our attempt to fathom the unfathomable especially on the existence of God. Using reason alone made me feel St. Augustine’s experience seeing a boy trying to empty the sea by pouring all its water into a hole in the sand. Theodicy was not everything. It took a leap of faith to be touched and to be transformed by the salvific act of Jesus. It was an experience of a complete embrace on St. Anselm’s “Credo ut intelligam” (I believe so that I may understand); a dictum based on St. Augustine’s faith imperative, “Crede ut intellegas.”
The gospel read during Good Friday of Christ’s passion, though heard many times, made me constantly reflect on the love of God the Father sending His only begotten Son to make amend or reparation of our sins.
Humans as we are, we commit sin as this is clearly expressed in the dictum; “Humanum errare est – To err is human.” Yet, our humanity should not be construed as the inevitability of error or the justification of failure. If so, then to be human was already to be wrong?
The right attitude should be, because we are humans saved by Christ that we ought to free ourselves from the bondage of the slavery of sin through reparation.
In the same gospel, we learned that Peter denied or disowned Christ thrice in front of everyone. It was a grievous betrayal far greater than what Judas did. For in fairness to Judas, his kiss was a simple identification of the Rabbi and not a denial. Besides, he had a vincible ignorance on the matter which may lessen the voluntariness of his act. He had no intention to have his master crucified, I supposed.
Peter’s culpability is manifested on Matthew 10:32-33 which states, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But however disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” As the authority says, “Peter’s denial was in direct conflict with the nature of discipleship.”
But when Christ looked at Peter in silence, the latter wept and learned the value of silence of his raucous conscience. He begged for forgiveness. His repentance freed him from the bondage of the slavery of sin; an act which elevated his humanity to a deep sense of spirituality being in union once again with Christ.
Judas on the other hand was troubled by shame and guilt with no repentance. Consequently, he succumbed to suicide; solving evil by committing another evil.
May we continue to value inner silence, the virtue of repentance, the grace of Christ’s love and salvific act this Easter and beyond.
Resurrexit Sicut Dixit!