BOKASYONG AGUSTINO MINISTRY

PN. Dannie Villanueva Bautista

San Rafael, Bulacan Province, Philippines

This is a reflection on the Chapter VI of the Rule of Saint Augustine of Hippo.

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Our world is small when we have enemies. “I cannot go there because he is there”. “I will not attend because he will be there”. We limit our space to avoid our enemies making us to be a murderer of our relation to the community. This is the reality of having an enemy, it moves like a chain reaction. When we hate a person, we also hate their friends. Our hatred spreads making a plank out of splinter and a candle light to a wild fire. Well, in order to avoid such circumstances I reflected on the rule and it made me realize 3 things.

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            First, I must ask for pardon in order to rebuild the shattered relationship. What we tear, we must also mend. What is broken should not be left broken, it must be rebuilt in order to see what it really is. Friendships are not meant to be broken but once broken, I must do my best to rebuild it again in order to see what it really is. It is in brokenness that I can find true meaning because the whole meaning is not just in being whole, it is also in being shattered.

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            Second, I must forgive because I am also forgiven. I am a sinful person living in God’s grace every day. Without it I may not be able to sustain what I am. God forgives me so that I can forgive. Why should I not forgive? Who am I to do this? I should not let pride prevail over me. Even though I am the one that was hurt, I should remind myself that sometimes I am the one who is afflicting the pain.

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            Third thing that I realized is that, I should be humble enough to ask pardon whenever I correct someone because I do know that I am not worthy to correct him yet I know that it is wrong. I should correct him because in correcting him, I allow myself to be a channel of God’s grace. I may not be perfect but I know what is right from wrong through the help of our God.

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            In doing these things, asking pardon and forgiving offenses, I put the common good before mine. I put a healthy disposition between me and the community. Because of asking pardon, I am able to connect myself to the other same as with forgiving those who offended me. The rule challenges me to do this every day, to ask pardon in order to find true meaning, forgive in order to be forgiven and to be a channel of God’s grace to my brothers.