Wean to win

WE go through life in stages. We start as a fertilized egg in our mother’s womb. Then we develop into a fetus. We are born, we are infants, a toddler, a schoolkid, an adolescent, a yuppie, a golden boy or girl, then a senior citizen, etc.

Some of the shifts are automatic. They are merely chronological, biological, physical. But others require our will and conscious effort. This is where we have to learn the art and skill of weaning from a certain stage to go to the next.

In the beginning, the weaning is done mainly by others, like our mother, our teacher, etc. But as we go along, we start cooperating in the effort until it becomes mainly ours.

The gospel is full of images and reference about this need of ours. Classic is the passage from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of the child.

“We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known.” (13,-11-12)

We have to be more aware of this need because, knowingly or unknowingly, many of us are stuck at a certain stage and refuse to go any further, even if the clock of time and divine providence, with everything we need for our growth and perfection given in abundance, continue to tick away.

I just learned recently, for example, that in the States the number of young adults who refuse to work and still depend on their parents is increasing. That phenomenon can also be observed here.

We can see people who are supposed to be mature because of their chronological age still behaving like irresponsible children. Many are those who not only are bedevilled by childish attitudes but also are plunging deep into the language and logic of the flesh and the world.

Part of the problem is, of course, lack of formation or ignorance about what truly comprise our human and Christian perfection. Toward this end, we have to understand that education should be an ongoing affair. It should never stop. We can never have enough of it.

We need to get our act together, for example, since we can see people quite developed in some aspects but are quite a disaster in other and even more important aspects.

Thus, we can have people who are quite developed physically but stunted emotionally. Or those who are emotionally expressive but are intellectually deficient. Or those who are bright and brilliant but are not pious.

Or those who are so infatuated with the old and traditional that they do not know how to adapt to the new things. They may look faithful but they are agonizingly not creative and innovative.

There are those who are theoretical but not practical, or vice-versa. Those who only see parts but not the whole picture. Those who tend to look only at the negative and dark side of life—the problems and difficulties—and ignore the positive and bright side.

There are those who may be good as an individual worker but fail miserably when they have to work with others. They don’t have the teamwork mentality nor social skills.

In the field of education, there are those who become so captivated by a very narrow and restrictive specialization that they could not relate themselves to the over-all and dynamic character of education.

It’s true that we have to have some specialization, but we also need to realize, especially now with a very rapid pace of world developments, that we have to avail of a more multi-disciplinary approach to education to be better prepared to face the challenges of the times.

The most basic and most important shift that we need to do is the passage from the carnal man to the spiritual man as described by St. Paul (1 Cor 3,1-3). It involves being born again in the spirit, for as Christ himself said: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (Jn 3,6)

It is this being born again in the spirit that comprises our ultimate human and Christian perfection. It involves some radical changes in us, some discarding of unnecessary things and keeping of the useful ones, and the attitude of always being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.