« on: August 21, 2007, 06:58:42 AM »
Since its publication in 2002, Rick Warren’s book Purpose Driven Life has been translated into dozens of languages and continues to attract readers from all over the world. In San Sebastian, I find copies of the book in the convent chapel, in the dean’s office, in the list of prizes to give to winners of student contests …
The book still draws because it echoes in the hearts of people who are looking for a purpose in their life other than the more mundane aims of career success, riches, fame or influence.
The world has known the recent examples of eminent individuals whose lives have been driven by great purpose. John Paul II traveled around the world in order to exhort people to “open the doors to Christ”, to “not be afraid” and to “put out into the deep”. Mother Teresa spent her life helping the poorest of the poor, first in Calcutta and, later, in the rest of the world through her sisters in the congregation she founded, the Missionaries of Charity.
Paraphrasing Kierkegaard, who classified people into two kinds – the hero and the singer – Pope Paul VI said that for us Christians, there is only one hero, Jesus Christ, and all the rest are supposed to sing his deeds. Obviously, John Paul II and Mother Teresa are among the eminent singers of the deeds of our lone Hero.
Another such cantor lived not so recently, but lived closer to our shores, in fact stayed in our country for 15 years.
Saint Ezekiel, the titular saint of the Augustinian Recollects in the Philippines, whose feast we celebrated yesterday, August 19, was born in Alfaro, Spain, in 1848, to hardworking and pious parents. Early in life he opened himself to something higher than himself, a mystery that he could somehow grasp in the religiosity of his family and townsfolk. His childlike response to this mystery was first articulated by way of a charming repartee with a Dominican sister. “What do you want to be when you grow up”? asked Sister Catalina. “A friar!” was his prompt reply. “You’re so small! Why would they want you in the convent?” teased the religious. “I’ll wear a top hat, so I will look taller”, said he.
The desire to announce Jesus was to be the driving purpose of his life; but it was so because first of all it was precisely God’s purpose-given life for him.
Being a Recollect friar in those times meant carrying this desire out in the Philippines, where the Recollect congregation was dedicating most of its efforts and personnel. Arriving in the country in 1870, Ezekiel was ordained priest in Manila the following year. To preach Jesus in a tongue Filipinos could understand, Ezekiel learned Tagalog with his brother Eustaquio, in Calapan, Mindoro. Not long after, he was assigned as chaplain in the expedition that would colonize Palawan. He not only preached and taught the colonists, who were marginalized people; he also promptly sought to evangelize the tagbanuas. But malaria and the toll of the hard work forced him to leave the island.
Having regained his health, he was assigned parish priest of Calapan and superior of the Mindoro missions. Three years later, in 1876, he was sent to Las Piñas. Other Philippine ministries would subsequently know his zeal for the Gospel: Santo Tomas in Batangas, Intramuros, Santa Cruz, Imus. In his words and actions, the people experienced Jesus’ teaching and example.
After 15 years in Philippine soil, Ezekiel was recalled to his native Spain, where he was formator of future missionaries in the Recollect novitiate of Monteagudo. Feeling that God was calling him to Colombia, he volunteered when the occasion presented itself. The diminishing Colombian Recollects received the much-needed infusion of new life and personnel. Whether doing mission work in the northeastern plains of Casanare, or ministering to the faithful of Bogota, or leading as bishop the southern diocese of Pasto, Ezekiel’s irrepressible desire to announce Jesus came through in his speech and example.
Before one can talk about Jesus, one has to talk to Jesus. Ezekiel spent long hours in prayer; he would normally spend more time praying (about 6 hours) than sleeping (5 hours). This deep relationship with the Lord enabled him to assimilate Jesus’ sentiments and receive his strength when difficulties came. Enemies of the Gospel persecuted him, made him the target of their viciousness, nay even plotted his assassination, but the loftiness and determination of Ezekiel’s purpose made him rise higher than his circumstances. Ordered by the Holy See to silence when he was Bishop of Pasto in Colombia, in a controversy with a bishop of a neighboring diocese, Ezekiel obeyed; eventually Rome recognized he was right in prohibiting his schoolchildren from studying in the anticlerical school of that diocese. Struck with cancer of the palate, he serenely endured surgery without anesthesia, to the admiration of those present. “You are my refuge and my strength”, proclaimed his episcopal coat-of-arms. God indeed had not only given him the purpose of his life, but was also his refuge and strength. On the day that he died, he sat up in bed, smoothed his clothes, remained motionless for a couple of hours, in total serenity. At the age of 58, having labored his whole life to proclaim Jesus, he rested in the Lord.
What on earth am I here for? asks Rick Warren in the subtitle of his famous book. Our life has a God-given purpose. We need to discover it and to allow ourselves to be driven by it.
