Providence, practicality and prudence

Jesus enjoins us to entrust our lives to God, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink….”  If God the Father feeds the birds of the sky and clothes the grass of the field, he explains, so much more will he provide and care for his children (Mt. 6:24-34).

The First Reading from Isaiah underscores the steadfastness of God’s love for us. “Can a mother forget her infant? ...  Even should she forget, I will never forget you,” (Isaiah 49:14-15).

Providence.  This year we commemorate the 30th death anniversary of Fr. James O’Brien, S.J., founder of the Tulong Dunong program of the Ateneo de Manila High School.

In 1975, the first group of seniors tutored a group of Grade 6 public school children every Saturday under the supervision of Fr. OB, as he was fondly called.  Three years later, the tutorial program was institutionalized as part of the curriculum of the Ateneo High School.  Every week, senior students would spend an afternoon tutoring public school children in Quezon City and Marikina.  Meanwhile, the most capable graduating students from these public elementary schools were granted scholarships in Ateneo, Miriam (then Maryknoll), St. Bridget’s, St. Scholastica’s and St. Paul.  While these schools waived their tuition and fees, Fr. OB raised funds to provide for all their other needs.

And so in our Socio-Economics class under Fr. OB, every so often he would make an appeal for one of us to lend a sleeping bag for the camping trip of one of his scholars, and outside class, appeal to alumni for funds for the dental procedure of another scholar, and further still, appeal for aid for the father of a scholar who lost his job or for a mother who was seeking treatment in a hospital.  The needs were seemingly endless. Fr. OB’s trust in the Lord’s providence boundless.

As the program expanded and the number of scholars increased, the financial requirements to sustain the program swelled.  Yet Fr. OB eschewed establishing a Trust Fund.  With no yearly budget and no financial managers and not enough donors  to  cover  all  the operational expenses, Fr. OB proceeded with his tutorial and scholarship program, trusting in people’s generosity and God’s providence.

Practicality.  Eventually, Fr. OB was diagnosed with skin cancer.  Nonetheless, he would herd his students into busses, exposing himself to the sun, albeit protecting his face with his forest green ranger’s hat. Although he gradually degenerated, he stubbornly continued to teach every school day, manage the TD program and attend to the needs of his numerous scholars. 

He seemingly threw his cares to the wind.  For in fact, he entrusted his life and his programs to God’s care and providence.  But many of us found his spiritual attitude naïve, his management style impractical.

Sensing his worsening physical condition, some of his first scholars, now professionals, secretly brainstormed about establishing a Trust Fund.  Meng de Guia, one of his first graduates, relayed to me that when Fr. OB heard of their plans, he roundly scolded them. We chuckled in exasperation.

While we believe in God’s providence, we also know we have to work our butts, we have to work within a budget, and we need to know we have sufficient funds for our programs.  While we believe in providence, we also believe in practicality.

Prudence.  There is a paradoxical axiom attributed to St. Ignatius: “Work as if everything depended on God, pray as if everything depended on you.”  In the aftermath of his religious conversion, he lived an ascetic mendicant’s life.  But he spent the last sixteen years of his life as an astute administrator of his 1,000 Jesuit brothers scattered over Europe, Latin America and Asia.  He was a man of prudence, who discerned what God invited us to labor over and what God invited us to surrender to him.

The commentary of Fr. Mark Stengel helps us probe the mind of Ignatius and negotiate the tension between divine providence and human practicality:

“If I pray as if everything depends on me, I would have to pray with a greater sense of urgency and need, recognizing my own inadequacy. I would have to pray for the wisdom and strength that I will need. I would need to seek forgiveness and humility, so that my past sins and my present flaws might not be stumbling blocks for those I am trying to serve.

If I work as if everything depends on God, then I will go forward with greater confidence and energy, since the work to be done is in more capable hands than my own. If the outcome is in God’s hands, then I will perhaps be able to persevere in the face of opposition and apparent poor results. If it all depends on God, then I will not hesitate to ‘step out of the boat,’ out of my own comfort zone, as I try to serve. And if God is in charge, then He will not allow my mistakes to ruin His work, but will make all things work together unto good.”