From horror to joy

Lessons, precious lessons, can be learned from that recent incident involving a priest and an unwed teen mother who went to church for the baptism of her child. It was a nice story, a good, riveting drama that went viral and stirred practically the whole world. It started as a shocker but ended happily, thanks to Christian mercy.

Obviously, the first lesson is that anyone who has the duty to say anything in public, let alone, in a liturgical celebration, should really study what he has to say. If he is a priest, this duty is all the more important, since the priest can only expand on the word, the wisdom and the mercy of God.

Saint Paul said that our word should improve and edify others, not destroy and scandalize them. Thus, outside of that Pauline advice is already a violation of one's priestly identity and dignity, and will certainly cause harm on the faithful.

If for some reason, a priest strays from this duty, then everything has to be done to help him. If he has some health, emotional or psychological condition that makes him susceptible to irritation and unmindful of his words, then appropriate action should be given by his companions, by the people around, or by his superiors.

We should not wait for a blunder to explode especially in public. Prevention, anticipation and preparation are always preferable to the harder task of curing, cleaning up the mess and making up for the injury and damage.

I always believe that priests should be closely monitored and supervised by everyone. Their position and ministry is so important and delicate that they (we, me included) need all the help they can get. It's not a matter of spying. Rather it's all about brotherly concern and care.

They should never be left alone. In the manual for priestly life and ministry, this point is clearly highlighted. They are encouraged to live a very refined fraternity among themselves and others. A priest who prefers to be alone, with no family or community life, except when in retreat and in prayer, is clearly courting danger.

Being alone, that is, not in communion with God and with others at least in mind and heart, can only lead one to disaster. It hardens one's idiosyncrasies and individuality that is not constructive but destructive of the unity of any group or entity.

Another lesson to be learned is that whenever some irregularity or anomaly is observed among some public, let alone, ecclesiastical officials, a report to the nearest authority should be promptly made.

As much as possible, we should refrain from indulging in some trial by publicity, making use now of our modern and powerful technologies that can blow things out of proportion. We can only generate a kind of mob rule that way, feeding our wild instincts, and throwing to the wind a fair, sober, extensive assessment of the issue.

Let's always remember that if any complaint is made, a thorough investigation should be made first. Prudence dictates that all relevant facts and data should be gathered first, and other considerations may also be made, since a complaint usually tends to be one-sided. We have to listen to all parties and give due notice to other relevant circumstances left unsaid in a complaint.

In this recent case of the erring priest and the aggrieved mother, the video that was put online only whipped up a terrible storm of outrage that, I believe, only worsened the case. The media and the public in general had a fiesta, making all kinds of comments not excepting those clearly tinged with malice and vile.

It was just a happy turn of events that the offending party promptly made his apology and his superiors took immediate action. In a while, some reconciliation took place.

The offender humbly asked for pardon, acknowledging the gross cruelty of his words and offering to make up. And the offended party also magnanimously forgave. It was truly heartwarming to witness this episode that, to me, reprised a Christian duty of mercy.

Well, I suppose, life has to go on. We commit a lot of mistakes along the way. But we should never lose hope. We may get stung, distressed, angered, depressed, etcetera, in a given moment, but let's not stay long in that condition.

There's always hope. We just have to take up, as soon as we can, the path of mercy, guaranteed by God's wisdom and teaching, so we can move on all the wiser and all the better as a person and as people.