April 6, 2022
Movement for the Common Good Fired Up: Love is a Miracle – Never Give Up
Casual lunches amongst friends become sharing stories about the goodness of the “Kapwang Filipino,” the inner authentic selves full of goodness, solidarity, concern for the other, beyond oneself. We exchange poetry books, T-shirts, apron and bracelets – all about Leni.
Ano ba iyan? What’s going on? Why are the tsunamis of pink in Rizal where it rained all day, and wherein folks won’t budge, securing their spots in the rally? What motivated their sacrifices? Why are farmers walking on foot demonstrating their support for Leni? Why are fishermen doing a parade of their boats on the seas? Why are rains not even dissuading folks from coming together?
Could it be the “the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, as Msgr. Flannery O’Connor said?
Wherein the story of Leni Gerona Robredo VP Leni Robredo moves forward beyond all these human experiences, mysteriously guided by the Holy Spirit – as the rains stopped just as Leni spoke to the crowd? Worried that the folks got soaked in the rains, Leni even asked how are they going home? And to please take a shower so they won’t get sick, she continued to worry about their heroic sacrifices.
Empathy and solidarity are golden traits of Filipinos, displayed in homes and amongst friends and families. But empathy from public officials campaigning in the public squares? Or solidarity, inventiveness – elderly nuns saving their allowances to buy paint materials for public murals in the grounds of St.Theresa’s?
What did Leni unleash when her campaign slogan is “It is more radical to love.” A common good ethos, perhaps?
“The common good refers to what belongs to everyone by virtue of their common humanity. The simple definition of the common good is “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1906). Promoting the common good cannot be pursued by treating each individual separately and looking for the highest “total benefit”, in some kind of utilitarian addition. Because we are interdependent, the common good is more like a multiplication sum, where if any one number is zero then the total is always zero. If anyone is left out and deprived of what is essential, then the common good has been betrayed.
“The common good is about how to live well together. It is the whole network of social conditions which enable human individuals and groups to flourish and live a full, genuinely human life. At the heart of the common good, solidarity acknowledges that all are responsible for all, not only as individuals but collectively at every level. The principle of the common good expands our understanding of who we are and opens up new sources of motivation. The fulfilment which the common good seeks to serve is the flourishing of humanity, expressed in the phrase “integral human development”.
“Such development requires that people are rescued from every form of poverty, from hunger to illiteracy; it requires the opportunities for education, creating a vision of true partnership and solidarity between peoples; it calls for active participation in economic and political processes and it recognizes that every human person is a spiritual being with instincts for love and truth and aspirations for happiness. Development must always include this spiritual growth, with openness to God.”
It is more radical to love, and beyond the politics of our common humanity is a shared sense of justice, decency and common good. These are the acts of willing generosity, motivated by a compulsion to give, with no expectation of any thing in return. These are my fellow countryfolks’ traits!
Thank you Bam Aquino and all the campaign organizers who keep on giving of themselves and from your examples, we too are inspired, to give.
Next Monday, April 11, 2022, Philippine Consulate is open for overseas voting until May 9, 2022 at 7pm – Philippine time which translates to 4am, May 10, 2022 Tuesday. Some of my friends are taking half day off to vote. Will you? -@Prosy Delacruz
