Reflection on Rappler's post:
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Thank you very much for all the birthday greetings and wishes. I share with you and loved ones those thoughtful and lovely wishes as well. I 'like' them all, and wonder when I could reply individually during this hectic month of lecture preparations and deadlines.
I'm one with the millions of Filipinos who feel blessed by the presence of Pope Francis in the country this week, most especially by the inspiring messages of hope and humility that the Holy Father tells us. It has been a lively celebration of Philippine culture. I belong to it, I'm proud of it, though I may have some personal differences with the belief that culture is an arena of struggle, and I embrace it wholeheartedly with all its uniqueness as well as its eccentricities and weirdness as may be perceived by people from different cultures, belief systems, and personal taste.
Today (18th of January) marks the first anniversary of Abby's baptism. I remember the engaging catechism sessions that we had with a priest in Denmark as a requirement for the baptism, and the many questions and issues I raised to him about the Christian faith, religion, human sufferings, natural calamities, and the church teachings, having been inspired by elements of 'liberation theology' in Pope Francis' chosen leadership approach (i.e., Christ-centered servant leadership) and discursive emphasis (i.e., from the point of view of the victims, the poor and the needy and the urgently important task of offsetting or dismantling the prevalence of social injustices and inequalities by the virtue of social justice and the sanctity of human life and dignity, while respecting diversity of cultures and beliefs). I pray that Abby keeps this particular Christian message and values whatever belief system she chooses to espouse later on in life when she's mature enough.
Pope Francis has shared many significant messages to the Filipinos to reflect on. One of my favourites is his message that 'Reality is superior to ideas', which is the central message of the postgraduate course that I taught last semester on 'Development Policy and Management', including the principles of participatory methods in development practice. It is a call for humility for leaders, the learned, the opinionated, the articulate to accept that they do not have all the answers to questions, and that they do not have the solutions to all social problems. The Filipinos are the best to understand our own problems and the solutions are in us. Ours is the 'pedagogy of the oppressed', as Paulo Freire puts it, that shall be the basis of our collective actions for change. It is, most importantly, for all of us to appreciate the mysteries of life and the complexities of human and social relations and to realise the transformative power of our own realities.
Thanks again, dear friends! Cheers!
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