Ang Kalatas Volume V February 2015 Issue | Page 10

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EDITORIAL & OPINION

THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 5 Number 5 | February 2015

HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE

Sustaining the ‘Francis Effect’

W

hat a visit it was.
He came
and captured most
everyone’s hearts with his humility and humor, compassion
and simplicity. And yes, with
his big smile.
Some said the five days felt
like a spiritual retreat. To others, the gatherings like those
held in UST and the Luneta were akin to Woodstock —
peace and love everywhere
— without the drugs and sex.
However you describe it, to
the great majority, it was a lifechanging experience. They
were overwhelmed. The “Francis Effect” touched our very
core.
It has now been close to
a week since the Pope’s visit. I look at Facebook and other social media and I notice that
the topic of Pope Francis’ visit is beginning to recede. There
are still a lot of posts and comments about the visit but people are beginning to get back
to their own lives and are once
again posting and talking about
the other things that interest
them.
After a high, like this, it is
true that we must get back to the
ground zero of our daily lives.
“Down from the hill. Down to
the earth go I,” as the Ateneo
graduation song goes. As a zen
proverb puts it, “After enlightenment, the laundry.” There is

the mundane uninspired everyday life that must be lived.
I was with a group of
friends two days ago and we
were talking about the Pope’s
visit and how we as a people were so moved. What was
amazing was people waited for
hours in the rain, many without
food. And they listened to every word Francis said.
We all appreciated the compassion, love and humility that
flowed from him. It was so real
you could not miss it.
And we behaved like good,
disciplined and decent citizens.
We stayed behind the barricades. We followed the rather
strict security instructions with
few complaints. And we felt
proud because we as a people
actually did it.
In the Pope’s homilies, he
talked about many issues. He
spoke about reaching out to
the peripheries and helping the
poor and disempowered, the
evil of corruption, the gift of
family, the wisdom of women, the peace talks, the care of
children, materialism, climate
change, the importance of crying in compassion. We were all
touched and impressed at how
clearly the messages were delivered and received.
After analyzing everything, our little group began to
toy with the idea of how best we
could keep the messages of the
Pope alive and doable in our society.

While he spoke as a spiritual leader, the issues he raised
also had great significant sociopolitical implications. How can
you discuss poverty or corruption for example without getting into a socio-cultural-political discussion?
We asked ourselves many
questions. What if we could
look into his homilies as inspiration and really come up with
doable actions in our everyday lives? Can we make his
words flesh and carry them out
in concrete ways that will help
the poor? What if we can start
a movement that people could
believe in and follow, and
adopt the Pope’s messages and
take creative positive steps to
make life better? Can his words
unleash the power of conversion in our society to be a more
caring one? What can we do
right now that will make a difference?
All politics is local, it has
been said. Like politics, good
intentions for the world and
mankind must be expressed locally as well. We must do so in
our own here and now.
We can start by caring about
our own neighborhoods. We
can perhaps show more concern
about garbage, peace and order,
safety and the wellbeing of everyone. This requires active involvement and community service. This calls upon us to think
and care about what’s outside
the gates of our houses.

Around our own community, there are rich and poor areas
that have co-existed peacefully
for decades. The neighborhood
is rather friendly. People in the
geographically higher parts of
the subdivision often open their
doors to the flood-stricken during strong typhoons. Many
households hire their help, including kasambahay and drivers from the poorer side of the
community. It s not a perfect
neighborhood but it is clear that
a level of interdependence already exists. A community will
disintegrate if people do not interact or care about each other.
Anoth W"F