This summer, I had the chance to teach at the graduate
school of religious education at the Holy Angel University, Angeles City. My
subject: The Old Testament. It was my first time to teach at Holy Angel. I had
thirteen graduate students. Unfortunately, four of them dropped out after the
first meeting due to some other commitments.
So in the end, I was left with nine students. Of these, six were
ex-seminarians mostly from the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary. One came from
San Carlos Seminary in Manila. I assumed that these ex seminarians have
mastered the Old testament. Surprisingly, much of what we studied was really
new to them.This presented to me an opportunity for these students to
learn more about the Old Testament and for them to learn to love the Old
Testament.On the last day of classes, in May 27, 2017, we held our
class at Sa Kabukiran.
The class was a dynamite. The energy, the enthusiasm, the
receptivity was simply startling. But more than that, they had a great sense of
humor. Somehow the humor covered all the deep soul searching these group had.
Many of these students were young – some straight from college. For them to be
dreaming of a career in religious education is more of a call rather than a
competitive career. I am not surprised why the topic on prophets resonated well
with the group. These are the future prophets who will speak of God and guide
hundreds of students into the way of peace. While the experience of teaching
was both exciting and fulfilling, it was the aspect of soul searching that these
students had that touched me most. These young people have their ideals. But
more than the ideals, I think they have been genuinely touched by God to
respond to a call to be his witnesses to guide people towards the path to life.
At a certain point, a number of them struggle with their own humanity, their
faults, their own weaknesses. Some grapple with the reality of their humanity while
at the same time dealing with the lofty reality of speaking in God’s name. I
too at one point in my life struggled like these students. There is indeed an
uneasiness that overshadows one who speaks about God. Even the prophets had the
same struggle. I shared with my students my own struggles similar to what they were
going through. But in the end, I said, the God who calls is also the God who
enables.
I think, the end of our study of the Old Testament gave us a
sense of assurance and relief that despite of everything, God will always be
there, always present, always faithful, always greater than the sum of all our
fears.
