‘Each human being desires to be one with God’: Interview with Rev. Msgr. Paul A. Cuison

(By Nikki Rivera Gomez)

It was in a seminar that I first listened to Fr. Paul Cuison as a resource person. He spoke about the stringent demands of discipleship, the “radical experience” of being called by God to service, humility and other virtues we often take for granted in our everyday lives. Father Paul, or Monsi as he is fondly called, brought clarity and near palpability to many things heretofore ethereal in my mind, e.g. faith, prayer, devotion, simplicity. Right there and then, I resolved to interview him sometime.

When the date finally came and I found myself inside his office at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Maa—he’s the parish priest there—Monsi sat at his desk relaxed and soft-spoken.

We first chat about the Holy Land and Marian pilgrimages he has been leading every year. There’s a Marian tour in October that’s already filled up with 47 participants. “One bus. It’s a big group,” he says. That will include Rome in Italy, Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, and the sprawling Montserrat Monastery near Barcelona in Spain.
Briefly, we then talk about the Church’s grandeur, especially the ornate basilicas, art, and sculptures scattered across Europe. Is there no contradiction between the Church’s avowed partiality to the poor and its unabashed display of wealth? I ask.

Monsi, who studied Canon Law at the prestigious Universidad de Navarra in Spain, explained that indeed, there was a time when the Church and the State existed as one. The relationship was “very closely-knitted” that even the Church’s growth as a formidable institution was undertaken by the state, particularly by the kings. And so even institutional norms became common practices. For example, he continued, “you have to understand the Inquisition along that line. It was not the Church that was pushing for the death penalty. It was the state.”

This union went unmolested throughout the Medieval Church in the Middle Ages, until new thinking led to secularization. Monsi recalls the Catholic philosopher and mathematician René Descartes, whose “I think, therefore I am” principle echoed across “the period of modern times” when the separation of Church and State finally came to be, a hundred years after the French Revolution in 1789. That era also sparked the debate between science and religion, and the rise of nationalist movements within the Catholic Church.

Another reason for the outward splendor of the Church, according to Monsi, was that Church leaders then expressed their faith by “externalizing” its magnificence. “The beautiful Christian faith is expressed through the grandeur of the basilica (in Rome),” he cites. “Nakita mo naman pag pumunta ka sa basilica sa Roma. When you raise your eyes to the ceiling it’s all intricately done… the artistry… they expressed their faith through the arts, the buildings, the exteriors.”

Monsi added that in contrast, another reality was that of Teresa of Ávila, who in the 16th century wrote the acclaimed book The Interior Castle. This was yet another way of expressing “the beauty of the faith inside your heart, inside your soul,” he said.

The depth and expanse of his thinking is hardly reflected on the relative plainness of his working desk, or even on the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf stacked with gospels, philosophical critiques, and Shakespearean volumes. In spite of his numerous responsibilities within the Davao archdiocese, the good monsignor remains quietly grounded and humble. He shares his thoughts about himself, the Church and its directions, the search for happiness, and his concept of rest.

Excerpts from our conversation:

Gomez: When did you first start thinking about the priesthood?

Monsi: Oh, it did not come to me until I was already finishing high school, but the seed was planted way back in my childhood years. Because I was an altar boy to the Carmelites… in the Carmelite’s Monastery.

Gomez: Here?

Monsi: Carmelites in Tugbok, where the house is just like a few meters away from the monastery.

Gomez: Is the monastery there in Tugbok until now?

Monsi: Yeah. Until now. The novitiate of the Carmelites is there. For men, not for women.

Gomez: When you say novitiate, that is—

Monsi: —a stage of formation, for the religious men. There’s postulancy, there’s novitiate. Before they are professed with vows. They have stages. The novitiate stage is there in Tugbok for the Carmelite order. So, I was the altar boy in that monastery. The seed must have been planted there. Pero, the idea of entering the seminary came when I was already in fourth year high school.

Gomez: How did it come to you?

Monsi: Ahh, because I had a teacher who was a former seminarian. And then he talked about it when he was asking us: “Where will you go for college?” But my preference din was to take up engineering.

Gomez: Sana?

Monsi: Yeah because I like Mathematics.

Gomez: Wow.

Monsi: I like Math more than any other subject. And so, I was thinking about pursuing—

Gomez: Engineering?

Monsi: Engineering.

Gomez: Where unta?

Monsi: In UM (University of Mindanao). Actually, after my fourth year, I passed the exam but I was not accepted in the seminary. Sa first attempt nako. I took the exam, passed it, but the vocation director told me to finish college outside because I was just 14 years old when I finished high school. So, that was the reason why he would not admit me in the seminary.

Gomez: Too young?

Monsi: Too young. And so, he asked me to finish it. Finish my college outside. After my first year in engineering sa UM. I took up civil engineering.

Gomez: Okay. And then..?

Monsi: I went back during the summer to reapply.

Gomez: At the seminary?

Monsi: Yes, this time, with more interest. So after a year, I did not take the exam anymore. He just admitted me and said “Okay you can come for the next year.” For the incoming school year.

Gomez: So you were persistent?

Monsi: Yeah, my persistence.. Because during that time, I already was convinced this is where I was called. Since that time I never lost my focus… my second attempt to enter the seminary.

Gomez: This seminary was where?

Monsi: In Catalunan Grande. The seminary that we have right now. The college is called St. Francis College Seminary.

Gomez: So it was just a strong—

Monsi: Desire. Very strong desire. Because the seed was already planted. Because I was exposed to the Carmelite Monastery.

Gomez: Did you have… Well, I don’t know how personal this is, but did you have girlfriends before?

Monsi: Never had during those times. My focus was in studies and academics.

Gomez: Barkada?

Monsi: I had my own friends. Normal. But never into exclusive relationships. My focus, actually I could remember was, early on, when I was in elementary, already academics.

Gomez: I am intrigued by this fondness in Math.

Monsi: (laughs) Yeah, it’s what I love the most. It’s second nature to me. Never had any struggle with Mathematics.

Gomez: You would have been a good engineer.

Monsi: I don’t know, but I love Mathematics, so…

Gomez: So you have no problems with finance?

Monsi: Oo… Simple math would not be a big issue to me. I like the complicated ones. Yes, because normally, people would not like Math, no?

Gomez: I don’t like math!

(laughter)

Monsi: But mine is like: “Ah! So easy!” Because even if you don’t study you could follow logic with Mathematics. There’s a formula. Yeah, and then, trying to determine the problem, and then knowing what are the givens…

Gomez: So it’s like problem-solving?

Monsi: Problem-solving lang. Logic actually. Very akin to philosophy.

Gomez: Is it?

Monsi: Yes.

Gomez: Because?

Monsi: Because Math is determining What Is – what are the givens in a problem. What is the problem? And philosophy is very much akin to that. You have to know what is the nature of things.

The question “Why,” which is a question of philosophy, searching for the ultimate causes of things, is very much like asking the questions “What is,” “What are the givens,” “What is the problem?” And I could connect it with my specialization of Canon Law.

Gomez: Which is?

Monsi: Which is also about the order in the Church. The law. Based on justice. It’s determining really what is the given. It’s knowing how to read reality as it is. Which mathematics, I believe, is a big help.

Gomez: Because if you’re versed in math—

Monsi: —it’s easier to read patterns, read what “Is.”

Gomez: Moving forward, Mons, how do you feel about the Universal Church today? How is it now? Has it evolved, matured over time? For example, we have leaders like Pope Francis who others think may be—

Monsi: Very liberal?

Gomez: Very liberal. Are we in the right direction?

Monsi: I always believe that we are guided by the Spirit, and it was the promise of Jesus Christ when He handed the key to Peter and told Peter that he is the rock, the foundation of the Church, and the jaws of death will not prevail over it. That was the promise given to Peter by Jesus Christ himself. That the church will continue to exist, and even death cannot conquer it.

So, I would believe with the conviction of my faith based on the Revelation, based on what Jesus said: that there’s the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there’s the hand of God in the Church. And (there may be) one development after another, one philosopher to another, one theological disposition after another. Each one different from the other. But (the Church) evolved from (these) realities. We’re journeying in the course of time. Time and space can make it different. But it’s still the same Church founded by Christ. So…

Gomez: It’s like, “Fear not! Ito yung promise…”

Monsi: Oo, fear not. Yeah, because there’s the promise of Jesus, and Jesus is the founder. And I would say it’s unfair to compare Pope Francis to John Paul II or Pope Benedict because each one of them is unique and they all contribute to the richness of the Church.

Gomez: Because there’s been a lot of comparison—

Monsi: —going on. It’s human. It’s very human. But I would say each of these popes has the guarantee of infallibility. In that sense, they are guided by the Spirit.

Gomez: When you say infallibility, is that not being doctrinaire? Or is that something that is true and real?

Monsi: I would say you cannot appreciate infallibility without putting it in the context of faith. It is the promise of Jesus. Going back to the verse I told you: when He handed the key, there was the image of infallibility there. There’s that promise. It’s not on Peter himself; it’s not on the Pope himself.

Gomez: It’s Jesus Christ.

Monsi: Oo. It’s faith. It’s the context. Faith, not reason. Because if you look at it purely from Reason’s point of view, you would argue that he’s just a human being, like everyone else.

But from the perspective of faith, you go back to the words of Jesus. So I’d say it’s real; not just a doctrine. The doctrine is based on real infallibility. People are just losing their faith. That’s why it’s so difficult to…

Gomez: Yes. That’s my next set of questions: Do you think people now are less prayerful?

Monsi: They are more distracted. More distracted than people before us. Before, they didn’t have cellphones; they didn’t have gadgets. People now are more introverted. They carry gadgets with them even inside the Church.

But the desire for God is, I would say, the same. Because each human being desires to be one with God. To pray. To adore. We’re just making it a little bit difficult because of a lot distractions.

Gomez: Do you think, Mons, that is inherent in—

Monsi: In man? Yeah. The basic goodness in man. God has planted that seed in the heart of each and every human being, the desire of the infinite. The longing for meaning is actually a sign of that.

Gomez: When you say longing for meaning, that can be equated with longing for—

Monsi: Heaven. For God. Longing for God. People just confuse it with other things. But actually, what they’re looking for, when they look for meaning and fulfilment, is the face of God.

The longing deep inside us of wanting to be peaceful, to be meaningful, to be happy, actually it’s our desire for God. We just cannot identify it like that, and we fall into different things. Some fall into gambling, into alcohol, into something else.

Gomez: Believing that it could be the answer.

Monsi: The answer to (the search for) happiness.

Gomez: What should we do?

Monsi: The church is charged with the mission to evangelize, to constantly preach, proclaim the kingdom of God, to let people know who Jesus Christ is.

Gomez: In your assessment Mons, do you think the church has been successful?

Monsi: It is not as successful as we wish it to be. The church has to remain faithful. We may have a lot of failures because we’re just human beings.

The church is composed of human beings like all of us. So, we’ll have failures. Pero we should not stop because of our failures here and there. The call is faithfulness to the mission of evangelization. Evangelization is really directed to God. Letting people know who God is.

And for us Christians, the face of God is Jesus Christ. So, we let others know who Jesus Christ is. Know, and then love, and then follow.

Gomez: Can you cite one challenge in the Church that it has overcome, or is in the process of overcoming today.

Monsi: Challenges can come in so many ways. We may not be able to totally overcome them. But one of them is the challenge to be consistent with the calling. Especially the challenge to remind ourselves where we are remiss in doing something. That’s the reason why Pope Francis talks about synodality. The challenge to help us realize who we are as a Church. It may not be overcome—

Gomez: —totally.

Monsi: Totally. Pero the good thing is we are always responding to it.

Gomez: When you say synodality, what does it mean exactly?

Monsi: The word itself is saying “journeying together.” And then, with the insistence of Pope Francis, it means that everyone in the church … nobody is left out. Inclusivity. Even those whom you would consider in the outside, they cannot really be an outsider. We all have to journey together.

Gomez: What about controversial issues like the LGBTQ? The Pope has spoken on a number of occasions. And yet, there are all kinds of interpretations.

Monsi: Yes. Ako, I would stick to my conviction about Christian anthropology. Meaning to say that when God created us, He created us male and female.

And then, what comes as sociological is the way people look at others like in the LGBTQ++. That is sociological. But in no way should it destroy the way we look at the person as male and female.

Gomez: Meaning, we should continue to respect—

Monsi: —respect their way of looking at themselves, but we don’t change our concept of what man and woman is.

Gomez: So as Christians, if you’re male, male ka pa rin?

Monsi: Male ka pa rin. Masculinity is determined with your biological and physical sexuality. It is biologically determined.

Gomez: Okay.

Monsi: Pero in sociology, people would look at it differently. Because that’s a language right now. I would respect them, but you do not alter the fundamental reality of the given. Yan ang sinabi ko sa ‘yo kanina, na tayo dapat, sa Math, sa philosophy, we should look at what the givens are and not extrapolate according to your mind frame because that would be wrong Math.

If the givens are not clear, you would arrive at a wrong conclusion.

Gomez: Malilito ka.

Monsi: Malilito ka. Yan ang binigay ni Lord sa ‘yo because that is naturally ordered, natural law. That’s divine law as well. I respect the way they would (otherwise) look at it, but this is how I look at it as a Christian.

Gomez: That must also be the Pope’s—

Monsi: Yes. But the respect is very strong with the Pope; the respect of individuality. That’s existential. The respect of the differences of one person from the other should always be there, but you don’t disturb the distinction between male and female.

Respecting each male and female in his or her physiological, psychological, sociological identity should always be there. Because, as I’ve said, it’s part of respecting their dignity. But the Pope is not saying na they have changed.

Gomez: Yes! Hindi po yan ang message.

Monsi: Hindi yan ang message. Love and respect for their individuality. Our capacity to embrace the differences. That’s what synodality is all about. But not sacrificing our morals and doctrines. That’s how I would view the whole thing.

Gomez: Do you experience challenges in your life that prevents you from moving on? Don’t you feel tired?

Monsi: My attitude, my disposition, has always been just to respond to the moment. Moment by moment. My Yes to the Lord is a moment-to-moment Yes. There was a fundamental Yes when I said Yes to priesthood. But everyday is a Yes.

And you know my prayer, which I shared to you in the (Aspirants’ Retreat of the Bukas Loób sa Diyos). My prayer every morning: “Because You are forsaken / I now have life / And therefore, I want to have You as the only reason for my life / And since I have made this choice / I want to love You and my neighbor / In suffering in all situations / Which remind me of You / Because You are forsaken, here I am.” I recite that every morning. The first thing I would utter.

Gomez: It’s very humbling.

Monsi: Yeah, it’s every day. And, it’s not just because I said it in the day of my ordination. I made Jesus forsaken as my spouse. Like you are faithful to your wife, and you’re always saying Yes to your wife every day of your commitment.

Gomez: In the same way.

Monsi: Yeah, in the same way. And, you know, the challenges of everyday life could vary. Some ordinary, some extraordinary. But you have commitment. You have said your Yes since you allow it. I get tired because I’m just a human being, but I allow it. I rest if I’m tired, but I’m not saying No.

Gomez: How do you rest, Mons?

Monsi: One is really family. Just being there in the house. And then, secondly, when you rest, it doesn’t mean physically. You lie down and that’s not the meaning of rest. Resting for me is doing the things that you love to do. That’s why I have a book, like this one (shows me). I rest when I read, and I enjoy reading. Because when you read, you are conversing to the author. And I like this author very much (points to the author, Pope Benedict).

So, when I read, I’m like conversing with Pope Benedict, and that’s resting. So, resting is not necessarily like going out on a vacation. It’s doing what you love to do.

Gomez: That’s not necessarily work?

Monsi: That’s not necessarily work.