Dear Rev. Fr. Rector,
Members of the Staff,
distinguished guests,
Parents and dear students,
It is my joy today to be able to visit you and to share in your own joy as the students of this hallowed Institution, St. Joseph's College, receive awards of excellence in the various branches of human, educational and spiritual formation. I thank Rev. Fr. Rector and the staff as well as the parents for the cordial invitation extended to me to preside over this function. And thank you dear Fr. Rector for your kind words of welcome.
The Second Vatican Council in its declaration on Catholic Education, 'Gravissimum Educationis', stresses the fact that Education plays a vital role in the life of man. It states, " all men of every race, condition and age, since they enjoy the dignity of a human existence, have an inalienable right to an education that is in keeping with their ultimate goal, their ability, their sex and the culture and tradition of their country, and also in harmony with their fraternal association with other peoples in the fostering of true unity and peace on earth. For, a true education aims at the formation of the human person in the pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of the societies in which as a man, he is a member, and in whose obligations, as an adult he will share" [ GE 1 ]. Thus education is truly a sacred task, a grave responsibility, that of helping what is already God given or ingrained in every single child to blossom out so that he or she may live upto his or her fullest potential, that inner call to excellence. As Christians we believe and the Sacred Scriptures do affirm that man is created by God in His own image and likeness. As the book of Genesis states " God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him" [Gen. 1:27 ]. Indeed it says that God breathed His own breath into man (cfr Gen. 2:7). Thus the true value of a human life and its inborn dignity are important considerations in Catholic Education. Indeed such dignity was further enhanced when Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, deigned to be born a man and then through his supreme sacrifice on the Cross, redeemed mankind from the sense of slavery to sin and death which plagues it. For us Christians then, it is in and through Christ that human life has indeed been renewed, freed and disposed to achieve eternity. St. Paul called it the putting on of "a new self " - a new and eternally disposed existence. He states, " you must give up your former way of being, the old self, whose deceitful desires bring self-destruction. Renew yourselves spiritually from inside and put on the new self or self according to God which is created in true righteousness and holiness " [ Eph. 4: 22-23 ]. Indeed every human being is so uniquely created that God has placed in each one a unique capacity to achieve excellence which we could call " vocation ". Indeed God Himself addressed Prophet Jeremiah with the following words, " even before I formed you in the womb, I have known you, even before you were born I had set you apart and appointed you a prophet to the nations " [ Jer. 1:5 ].
Yes dear parents, and members of the academic staff, each child you receive from God or who comes under your guidance is so unique, so gifted and such a treasure that it could bring you much joy and happiness if only you would cooperate with the creator in allowing that inborn sense of innocence, goodness and rectitude in every single child to flower as you accompany him or her on the journey of life. You are not the owner of the child, but only its care taker. You do not impart knowledge but accompany the child in such a way that it opens out to God's own perfection and finds excellence in Him. If you, however, give bad example, make the wrong choices yielding to the wiles of selfishness or disregard God's law in your own life, you would not only thwart His plans for your children, but reap disaster on your own self. It has to be understood that parents are indeed the ones who are first responsible for the upbringing of their children as it was in the case of the parents of Jesus under whose loving care he "grew up in wisdom and age and in divine and human favour " [ Lk. 2:52 ] as the scriptures state.
The Second Vatican Council is emphatic on this ; " parents have the primary and inalienable right and duty to educate their children " [ GE 6 ]. And again the same document affirms, " since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators ". And in fulfilling this task the parents are assisted by the teachers and the school as well as the Church. These secondary institutions are partners of the parents in the formation of their children. The Catholic school, so to say, is an academy of life, providing the children the atmosphere necessary for achieving intellectual, social, moral and spiritual fulfillment on the basis of the teachings of Christ and thereby help bring to completion that inborn call of God accepted in baptism and nurtured and strengthened in the Church. In short, the Catholic School is the nursery of faith for each Catholic child where everything that is done should help lead the child to holiness of life, righteous living and total communion with God. The Catholic school then is not an academy of sciences, but essentially an academy of faith and life. If we forget that we loose track of what is expected of us.
Thus, it is only a profoundly religion and faith based formation that would help galvanize our youth and consequently society as a whole against the constant sense of attraction to selfishness and slavery to sentiments of self divinization which plague human life. According to the book of Genesis man fell victim to the forces of slavery and death when he wished to become God and then defied Him, walking away from Him. In the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, we see an attempt by man to enthrone himself and dethrone God. Man makes a bold affront, to usurp the place of God. This scenario is seen in the history of man. It is true that man was given a mandate to subdue the earth but he has used his capabilities to put himself up on a pedestal. The ethos of this age is secularization, pragmatism and profanity. Man and the world are viewed purely from a terrestrial dimension.
The Psalmist in his wisdom says "I trusted in Thee, O Lord; I said Thou art my God, my times are in Thy hands " (Psalm 31; 14 -15 ) These words express the absolute simplicity of our dependence on God, which we learn through humbly seeing all people, things and circumstances as having their source and their completion in Him. Everything has being, because, being comes from God, and there is no being which is not for God and to be given back to God. St. Augustine thus stated said "Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee ".
Today's society crystallizes in some way a kind of a-religious or even anti-religious mind set which leads to a rejection of objective moral and spiritual truth relativising everything. Rejection of God has led to a kind of " feeling satisfied, with oneself " mind set and thus making man, the ultimate criterion of truth. This has deprived humanity of an objective moral conscience, making each man feel that beyond him there is nothing that is true or just. That kind of subjectivist, relativist mind set destroys the very roots of human existence and causes objective disorder in society. The end result is social chaos. Instead of opening out to the infinite, it recoils within itself into a world of finiteness beyond which nothing more is visible. The Western world today is suffering the effects of an exaggerated sense of subjectivism and relativism which is characterized by an intense search for the absolute glorification of man without leaving any room for God, moral and divine law or absolute truth and beauty. This phenomenon is leading Western societies to the brink of spiritual and moral decadence and to self annihilation.
The same seems to be happening in other continents too and now in our own Motherland Sri Lanka. Religious principles seem to be carrying hardly any weight in the basic political and social options of our own society. Our post independence history has continued to be marred by an increasing sense of subjectivism with regard to ethics and morals. Increasingly objectivity in truth, respect for human dignity, integrity and honesty as well as religious credibility seem to have lost their noble meaning. That Sri Lankan society, by and large claims to be religious and yet does not care much about the practice of the teachings of these religions, becomes more and more apparent in our society as times goes on, or else how could one understand the increasingly violent, confrontational and indisciplined orientations of our political leadership. Sri Lankan society seems to have given up moral rectitude and discipline, when it comes to matters of honesty, tolerance, democratic practice and faithfulness to law and order. Now there is this debate on the manner in which the last Presidential elections had been conducted and everything that happened thereafter. We are truly appalled by all this. Yet all of that is a kind of culmination of what has been happening regularly for over 30 years now.
Sri Lanka did have two violent insurrections in the early seventies and the late eighties. There was the law of the jungle that time and how many lives were then sacrificed on the altar of self glorification and endless ambition for power by those who led these rebellions and those who suppressed them with cruelty? Special laws and constitutional accommodations were made not so much out of a desire to address the grievances of the disgruntled or to improve political rectitude, but out of a need to hang on to power. Constitutions were made for this country not on the basis of the real needs of ensuring unity, allowing greater space for democracy, human dignity and acceptance of healthy diversity but to obtain absolute power which gave one person the authority to do anything he or she wanted. And through these processes the supremacy of specific ethnic or religious groups over the dignity and equality of others was also ensured resulting in the gradual deterioration of the relationship between the Sinhala and Tamil communities that could have easily been avoided or even settled with much less cost to human lives and the country's economic interests. And so all attempts at a consensus on the ethnic issue failed miserably.
Democracy yields best results when it is inclusive and is directed towards a consensual and multi-partisan approach. Violence at Election time has been a rising challenge to the religious leadership of this country in the last four decades or so. One dreads to recall the level of violence that characterized every change of government in the past. If this trend continues we will head for disaster in the future. What is most needed is a sense of give and take, consensus on major orientations and issues among different political and religious groups and the determined re-establishment, of the rule of law in this country. The executive, legislative and judicial components of Sri Lankan society, should ensure that law and order, justice and the true practice of democracy and freedom as well as ethnic and religious harmony and unity are jealously safeguarded and a sense of transparency and structures that ensure such transparency like the Independent Police Commission, Elections Commission and the Constitutional Council are established without delay. Major issues face this country today. Among these the need to ensure that the different ethnic or religious communities in this country are made to feel partners in its economic and social progress, that areas destroyed by the 30-year war are developed without delay and their original inhabitants re-settled and that the Tamil Community be made to feel very much part of this country after their disastrous adventure with a terror outfit which left them in penury and a new constitutional arrangement which leaves scope for a more transparent , democratic and unifying consensual government. Divisive democracy would only lead this country to disaster and perhaps to the resurgence of violent confrontations and eventually to possible political adventurism. Shared authority and vision brings better results always and avoids unnecessary confrontations or feelings of being excluded. A dream shared with others becomes easily realizable.
Mother Lanka became enslaved to outside forces each time there were divisions and inter-nicene struggles among its kings and nobles. We should learn lessons from our past. Still some powerful nations are seeking to interfere in our affairs as we saw in the last few days. The advice I give them is " physician heal thyself ". In the light of all of this and in order to ensure that we can rise up as a nation, united, disciplined and morally upright, Sri Lankan Society as a whole and its political leaders should anchor themselves strongly on the foundations of the different religious traditions our country is blessed with. Without being touched by that spiritual heritage, we will be exposed to all kinds of dangers as a nation. And we could in the process barter our freedom too. I appeal then to our political leaders to seek a spirit of genuine partnership in the task of re-building our beloved Mother land. Education too needs to exercise a role in all of this, especially through a stronger presence of religion in schools and universities. Politics should be kept away from such institutions for, there we deal with the sacred duty of forming the future citizens of this country.
As Catholics we pledge our loyalty to Mother Lanka and pray that she may experience a national and authentically religious resurgence. We are ready to play our own part along with all the other religious communities in order to create a strongly united country, which all the same, allows room for and respects ethnic, religious and political diversity among its citizens. I appeal to all Catholics to work towards such a spirit of unity, reconciliation and healing in this country.
I congratulate all those who have excelled in their studies, leadership and sports activities at St. Joseph's. May St. Joseph's College be a source of continuous inspiration for our youth in their future commitments to God and to Sri Lanka !
May God Bless you all !
+ Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith
Archbishop of Colombo
26th February 2010 |
