New Year’s revolution
“Father! Father!” said Greg running to me waving a piece of paper.
“Wuzzup, Greg?”
“Do you want to see my New Year’s resolution?” he enthusiastically said.
“But, they’re supposed to be very personal, Greg.”
“I know, but mommy asked me to show them to you,” he insisted.
“Okay, but I’m just going to read through them and say a prayer that you keep all of them. What do you think?”
“Suuuper!”
* * *
As I read through Greg’s list, I was reminded of Pope Francis’ marvelous Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. The Holy Father attractively suggests four principles “which can guide the development of life in society and the building of a people where differences are harmonized within a shared pursuit. I do so out of the conviction that their application can be a genuine path to peace within each nation and the entire world. Evangelii gaudium, no. 221)
The four principles are:
a) Time is greater than space.
b) Unity prevails over conflict.
c) Realities are more important than ideas.
d) The whole is greater than the part.
They definitely don’t look like any familiar resolution we have made in our life. Even though Pope Francis may have intended them for a broader scope, he describes them as resolutions we can all live in the small and personal realities of our families, work and leisure.
Time is greater than space. The Holy Father says, “this principle enables us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results. It helps us to patiently endure difficult and adverse situations, or inevitable changes in our plans. It invites us to accept the tension between fullness and limitations, and to give a priority to time. (Ibid., no. 223)”
There are many lessons we can derive from this first point. For example, how to value spiritual things more than material and transient realities. Time for us is not eternal, and since we each have an ‘expiry date’ it would be foolish to give priority to ‘space’ or what we materially possess or amass during our brief lifetime. Material things are good, but ought not to be transformed into ends.
The time we have is also not only for ourselves. Pope Francis adds: “We need to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces (…) we need to give priority to actions which generate processes in society and engage other persons and groups (…) to the point where they bear fruit in significant historical events. (ibid.)”
Unity prevails over conflict. The Pope says that conflicts in life are unavoidable, but “if we remain trapped in conflict, we lose our perspective, our horizons shrink and reality itself begins to fall apart. (…) we lose our sense of the profound unity of reality. (Ibid. no. 226)
How often do personal, family or professional conflicts lead to gossiping, negative criticisms, envy and hatred. The Holy Father thus proposes a dynamic attitude towards life’s difficulties: “the willingness to face conflict head on, to resolve it and to make it a link in the chain of a new process. (Ibid. no. 227)”
He invites us to seek unity over conflict because the former possesses a greater good than the latter that we cannot neglect. Mulling over trials or difficulties does not produce any fruitful results. The most they can give are headaches and with time ulcers. If each person strives for his inner unity first, then he will contribute to “authentic peace in society. (Ibid. no. 229)”
Realities are more important than ideas. “Realities simply are, whereas ideas are worked out. (…) It is dangerous to dwell in the realm of words alone, of images and rhetoric. So a third principle comes into play: realities are greater than ideas. This calls for rejecting the various means of masking reality: angelic forms of purity, dictatorships of relativism, empty rhetoric, objectives more ideal than real, brands of ahistorical fundamentalism, ethical systems bereft of kindness, intellectual discourse bereft of wisdom. (Ibid. no. 231)”
There is so much wanting of us in this area especially when we examine ourselves in our sincerity, loyalty and commitment to persons and institutions. Sadly, it has become so common to tell a lie or resort to politically correct speech and gestures to save one’s face but at the expense of one’s faith.
Then there are also the many promises made but not kept which we aesthetically formulate to appear good to others and sadly even just to console ourselves. We become wary about making commitments, out of fear that they may complicate our lives and leisure. Thus, we are never too ready to truthfully say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and would prefer non-committal replies such as ‘perhaps,’ ‘maybe,’ and ‘I shall see.’
The whole is greater than the part. “The whole is greater than the part, but it is also greater than the sum of its parts. There is no need, then, to be overly obsessed with limited and particular questions. We constantly have to broaden our horizons and see the greater good which will benefit us all. (Ibid. no. 235)”
The Father invites us to walk away from narrow-minded perspectives that only deepens our selfishness. He reminds us to ‘broaden our horizons’ in relation to what we can contribute –no matter how small– to others around us. Rather than confine ourselves within our ‘spiritual and material comfort zones’ the Pope exhorts us to foster the virtue of magnanimity or the greatness of heart, that creates simple but fruitful bonding spiritual and human circle.
* * *
“Greg? What do you mean by ‘Not to stay too long in front of the mirror’?” I asked.
Greg didn’t reply.
“Did you make this list, Greg?”
He smiled mischievously and admitted, “No, Father. I just copied it from my eldest sister Tania.”
