The mandate of Jesus
When our Lord was
about to ascend into heaven, he gave a mandate to his followers – the Church as
People of God – to continue the mission of the Father. He fulfilled that same mandate
entrusted to him by His Father in heaven. And that is exactly the mission by
which the religious leaders have to comply by responding to the holy and divine
call. That is character of their religiosity, their specific purpose. That is
the kind of mentality should have been inculcated during their formation years,
and to be manifested in their being religious and servants of God and the
Church.
Doing Business
The mentality of
doing the will of God - to continue the mission of the Father - should serve as
the motivating factor in doing their daily task wherever they are assigned by
their superiors. Doing business and gaining money is not part of their
identity, and definitely an unbecoming as doers of the will of God. If any of
this individual is engaging in such activity, that person has no place in the
Church of God. The Church should not be mirrored as business institution where
profit is the sole manifestation in their daily dealings with people. Theologically
speaking the Church is a visible sacrament where salvation is distributed. Thus
their concern should be the salvation of theirs and the people whom they are
serving.
Dualistic Mentality
A professed
religious person, sometimes, is the cause of confusion and scandal among his
adherents. While these sacred people teach about the need to continue the
mission of the Father, in their actions, they show exactly what the opposite is.
And sometimes when the adherents criticize their wrongdoings, they have a bunch
of encyclopedic reasons to apologetically justify what they do. The demarcation
line of what is true or wrong identity of a religious is not clear anymore.
What is left is double standard or dualistic kind of living. It is a living that
contradictory binds the sacred mission of the Father and doing business by gaining
money.
Perfect example
Living a double standard life produces negative
consequences. And these are the weakening the faith of the ordinary people,
confusing what we ought to do, and how to live our life according to the divine
call. Many clerics, despite of their knowledge of the canon law, have made a
realistic decision and follow the course of action according to the desires of
their hearts. Two priests from Luzon and another couple of priests from
Mindanao follow the call of political mission. They exit the convent to avoid
further scandal and confusion. It is from this paradigm, I hope, that those
professed religious people whose lives are identified as double standard must
think several times and make the greater sacrifice to leave the comfort zone, or
be reformed and faithfully follow the divine call of continuing the mission of
God. If their hearts are the desire for wealth, then go into business, rather
distorting the image of the Church.
