More on the Guinsaugon tragedy

For days these scenes will haunt us: a mother profusely crying over the loss of her four children believed among those buried in the schoolhouse, two lifeless bodies of kids recovered from the mudpool, an old man mourning over the loss of his three "apos". These and many more sights in that barangay pain our hearts as we see these in the media.

Why do we feel this way? These people are strangers to us. We don't know them; they don't know us. But why do our hearts bleed? No man is an island, says the poet John Donne. And we recall these lines: "No man is an island/Each is a part of the continent/A portion of the main/Every man's death diminishes me/For I am part of mankind/Therefore send not to know for whom the bell tolls/It tolls for thee."

In some mystical and unexplainable way we are connected to each other, each of us being a part of the wholeness which is mankind. The bells in St. Bernard now toll for the dead; they are tolling also for you and me here in Cebu and for other people in other places. No wonder we feel sad. Sorrow, however, is only for those who think. Remember Keats? He says that "to think is to be full of sorrows and leaden - eyed despair".

But human as we are we cannot escape from the process of intellection. When an event such as that of Guinsaugon confronts us we cannot help but seek refuge in great men's thoughts, hoping that their wisdom would shed light in the mystery of human suffering. Unity of things and events - let's pursue this thesis of Baruch Spinoza, a Jewish philosopher: " The greatest good is the knowledge of the union which the mind has with the whole nature. Indeed, our individual separateness is in a sense illusory; we are parts of the great stream of law and cause, parts of God; we are flitting forms of a being greater than ourselves, and endless while we die . . . "

The unity of man and nature was a favorite theme of the English writers during the so-called Romantic period. With such high priests as Wordsworth, Shelley, Burns. Keats and others, the thinking was that there is something beautiful and sacred in the objects of nature, hence they should be cherished and preserved. God is in nature, these writers believed and to love nature is to love God.

God is in suffering too. Accepting suffering means surrendering to the will of God who Himself suffered for our sake. In the whole of the New Testament nowhere can we find a line that guarantees freedom from the storms of life for those who follow Christ. On the other hand, there are many passages that speak of pain and suffering. A Christian therefore accepts suffering. He knows it is part of life, and a means to a happier, fuller life. Here's what St. Josemaria Escriva says of this; "Let us accept God's will and be firmly resolved to build our life in accordance with what our faith teaches and demands. We can be sure this involves struggle and suffering and pain, but if we really keep faith we will never feel we have lost God's favor. In the midst of sorrow and even calumny, we will experience happiness which moves us to love others, to help others share in our own supernatural joy."

Those of us who are one with the Guinsaugon folks in their sorrow, take heart of what the saint says on this experience. We are one with them in their sorrow. But sorrowing without doing something is a useless exercise of conscience. If we feel oneness with those people we have to do something for them. That's why the flood of assistance from Cebuanos for them is a welcome thing. But more is needed, hence, every one of us will have to pitch in. If we fail to do this, the specter of omission will haunt us for days and years. More is needed in terms of prayer too, prayer that every one of those grieving heart would find the strength to carry on and not lose hope, that they should keep faith that God is still with them and will always be with them in their trying moments. Perhaps, as the tears flow and the hearts feel the sting of sorrow, the thought of being forsaken by their Heavenly Father taunts them. But as Margaret Powers dramatizes it in her Footprints, Jesus told a grieving faithful that there were only two footprints during his time of suffering because He was carrying the latter in His arms.

Keep faith, therefore, people of Guinsaugon. God stands in the mudpile among you there, blessing you and your loved ones.