Crumbs

Archbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales, the new Archbishop of Manila, gave a talk at the University of Santo Tomas, early in February, in the auditorium of the College of Medicine. It was one of the lectures in the Tenth Pope Leo XIII Lecture Series. His subject was: "Vision for the Deve-lopment of the Person".

He began by facing reality:

" The food eaten in most family dining tables, the house lived in by the great number of people, the availability of local work, the health conditions and the higher education available to the young can tell the true story about the economic health of our people.

"Of the ten million people in Metro Manila, 52 percent are poor and very poor. Conditions in the provinces are even worse. 64 percent of those in our nation are poor and very poor. This impels many poor people to transfer residence to the Metropolis. The worst indicators of our unhealthy economy and lack of development are the colonies of slums even along trash dumps, the squatters nearly anywhere, dwellings along river banks, over canals, along rails and even under steps and bridges.

"The single factor that has divided our country in the last two generations is politics. Mention a group or political party or interest in the community and the immediate result is division. The country is divided into as many interests, ambitions and groups as there are political groups today.

"Profit is primary in the mind of the trading individual or corporation. Profit is the important motivator and regulator of the life of business.

"Philippine politics has been the most obstructive element to progress in Philippine society, local and national. It has corrupted not just the leaders but also the ordinary citizens; it has made candidates deceivers of the voters and deformed voters into sellers of favours and votes to contenders. What was intended as the free exercise of citizenship in the choice of responsible leaders to guide the destiny of a people has, through corrupt exercise of a wicked ballot, ended by corrupting not just the leaders and the led; politics, Philippine style, has badly damaged the very culture of the Filipino.

"Our culture has been badly damaged by political patronage, political protectionism, bribery, and sometimes downright thievery. Moral corruption has seeped into behaviour and values our elders once treasured.

"In all these, the poor are the victims and they hurt very badly in a system of bad politics that sucks the blood of fair and responsible capital and investment in an honest economy. Governance failed dismally to serve the commonweal, as it eyed only personal privilege and interest.

But the great burden of the Archbishop’s talk was cheerful, positive, filled with hope for the future. We are faced with a challenge – the misery of the poor, and the greed and corruption of our politicians. But we are capable of meeting that challenge! We can improve the lot of our poor. We can change the hearts of our leaders. Not only is this possible – it is our obligation before God and man.

This is how the Archbishop presented it:

"The development of people is a possibility, and for us Christians an obligation. Pope Paul II taught that those who heed the cry of the poor, and who help the poor to meet their needs are the apostles of genuine development which is found in an economy adjusted to the welfare of the human person – and in the daily sustenance provided for all.

"Everyone is called to the fullness of life, because the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said that He came that all may have life, and enjoy that life in its fullness.

"Life does not have to be miserable. Some may be rich, others very very affluent; but the many who are poor need not merely survive in destitution and near unhumanity. Man was never intended to live in endless misery.

"Progress starts with the development of the human person. It is not primarily economic. Authentic development begins with the liberation or the freeing of the human person from whatever enslaves and imprisons him or her.

"When one addresses the needs of the whole human person – spiritual, moral, physical, economic, cultural – this is total human development. It is integral evangelization.

"Development of the poorest and the most neglected in the community is at the very heart of evangelization. This is our task. This is our mission.

"Ignorance enslaves; education liberates. Poverty enslaves; noble livelihood liberates. Sickness enslaves; healthful living liberates. Selfishness enslaves; generosity liberates. Sin enslaves; Christ Our Lord liberates."

And then the Archbishop presented his "Vision for the Development of the Person", his vision for nation building. It is the heart of the Gospel – give, share. But he feels that the giving should be easy, attractive, and doable by every Filipino — rich and poor. And he feels that it should be constant, consistent, daily. It should be a way of life. He calls it: "The Theology of the Crumbs".

"In His teachings, Christ showed us the way of the small and the simple. ‘The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds. . . . .It is like yeast mixed into measures of flour. . . . . You will enter the Kingdom only if you are like a little child.’

"There is the vital importance of the small in the Kingdom of God. In the last day the Son of Man will invite those on His right to enter the Kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world, ‘for I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink’. . . . . .’When did we do this to you?’ . . . . .’Amen, amen I say to you, so long as you did it to the least of these, my little ones, you did it to Me!’

"Talk of a real bargain! To win heaven at the cost of a drink of water!

"The Lord Jesus told the story of the rich man who lived in luxury, always preparing a banquet for himself and for his friends. At the doorsteps of his house was the poor beggar, Lazarus, waiting only for the crumbs to fall from the rich man’s table. No crumbs fell. The rich man died, and went to Hell. The poor man died, and went to Heaven.

"In this story crumbs – worthless crumbs – are the issue. They may look or weigh uselessly, but gathered in love, they can feed the hungry and the poor."

"Collecting these useless crumbs is all that PONDO NG PINOY is about. It is operationalizing of the love of Jesus Christ – reducing that love to action. Jesus taught that all of us will be judged one day on what we have done to others, especially the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the naked, and those imprisoned. Can these little acts of compassion be expressed in little acts of kindness, daily?. . . . The answer, of course, is yes.

"The little is good. Small is beautiful. Pondo ng Pinoy is gathering every day the crumbs from everyone —rich or poor, the strong and the weak, the young and the old. Crumbs have been valued at 25 centavos to one peso. There is power in the small, the little — the crumbs.

"ANUMANG MAGALING, KAHIT MALIIT, BASTA’T MALIMIT, AY PATUNGONG LANGIT!

"Could this movement be the beginning of the freeing of the human person from everything that oppresses him or her? Does the movement have the capacity to clarify attitudes, purify values, educate and teach, and unify divisions in our community?

"Can the movement provide for the needs of the poor, tame the greed of the wealthy and teach those who need to be taught, reformed or cleansed?

"It is a development whose benefits are shared with those who need, especially the poor. The only criteria applied are the authenticity of the needs and the availability of funds. It transcends race, classes, religion and status.

"Is Pondo Ng Pinoy possible on a national scale? Could the national version of Pondo Ng Pinoy with its philosophy of the good and the small and its theology of the crumbs be the possible alternative to bad governance?

"Think of its potentials!. . . . . and its unerring consequence towards the development of people and nation building! This is building the Kingdom of God!"

Archbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales is a man with a vision. As shepherd of his flock in Manila he will try to organize this campaign against poverty, to develop people, to purify our politics, to build a nation. He believes, with all his heart, that the solution to all our problems is everyone sharing with everyone else, just a little, every day – the power of the small, the eternal value of the crumbs.