A dialogue with a friend

CEBU, Philippines – Willingness to dialogue is the hallmark of a true philosopher. The main reason why Plato is called the “Father of Philosophy” is because all his works were in the form of dialogue between his teacher Socrates and his opponents, the Sophists, who claimed to be wise and to have the monopoly of truth.

The other week, I was dialoguing with a friend. Actually, we are not only friends but are also not-so-distant relatives, since his middle name is the same as that of my father’s – Mangubat. And it’s our running joke that we belong to the Society of Mutual Admiration, as we often find ourselves citing certain things we like about each other.

In that particular encounter, one of the weekly “unburdening” conversations we have, he posed some philosophico-theological questions. The first had to do with what will happen to a Roman Catholic who dies without a priest around to hear his Confessions and to administer the last rites to him. My reply was based upon what I learned in the seminary, both here and in Rome.

For the absolution from the priest, imperfect act of contrition is sufficient; i.e., that one is sorry for his/her sins for fear of losing heaven and going to hell. At the moment of death, when no priest is around to give absolution, the person’s sins are forgiven if he/she makes a perfect act of contrition, i.e., even if there were no heaven nor hell, he/she is sorry for his/her sins because they offend GOD who is very good and deserving of all his/her love.

When we go to Confession, we only have moral certitude that our sins are forgiven if we are sorry for our sins. Only GOD has absolute certitude whether we are forgiven. We can connect this topic of the dialogue between me and my friend with the opening story of the column “Guiding Light” last Sunday (The Freeman, Sept. 21, p. 18) by Rev. Fr. Benjamin Sim, SJ. The story is a modification of what the late Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote about three surprises that will meet us in heaven.

The first surprise is seeing people whom we never expected to be in heaven. The second surprise is not seeing people whom we expected to be in heaven. And the great surprise is finding ourselves in heaven. Bishop Sheen’s point is that going to heaven is a pure gift of God and nobody but nobody deserves it.

In closing, let me quote Pope Francis (a Jesuit just like our Fr. Sim) who said when asked what he thought about the homosexuals and the lesbians: “Who am I to judge?” And a fitting conclusion to our dialogue with my friend is “Wala’y magbuot sa Ginoo!” (No one can contest the will of God.)