With an eye towards the future
(Conclusion)

And the reason why we could have such robust faith in the future, as it impinges upon us, is that God has given us the capability to shape the future-if not for our own immediate good, it could be for the generations yet to come.

At a time when the Judeans had grown weary of their life as exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah wrote to them. He wrote about how they may live in the present as they looked to a future for their exiled nation. He wrote: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters… But seek the welfare of the city where (God) has sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord for its welfare.

What Jeremiah does in this letter is to let his readers do "imagineering". Imagineering is a coined word; it is a blending of thinking and doing vis-à-vis the future. Imagineering is what creative minds do. They

see images in their minds that are not conceived by others, and in their minds eyes these become a solid reality.

St. Paul's imagineering was a world brought in submission to Christ.

"I must go to Rome," he said; "I must go to Spain, "he vowed. He preached everywhere; he wrote letters; he stood before the powerful; he spoke to the doubting ones; he was imprisoned for his imagineering. He died never knowing that the universal Church would exceed his wildest dreams.

Magellan died in the process of exploring. But the 7,000 islands in his thoughts eventually were placed on the world map as the Philippine Islands.

Silliman University is a wonderful reality because the Founders shaped its future. On August 28, 1901, the philanthropist Horace B. Silliman, the missionary David S. Hibbard, and the provincial governor Demitrio Larena, conspired to shape the future of a school that started with one classroom of thirteen boys and one blackboard. Antoine de St. Exupery once wrote: "As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it."

To sum it all up, let me remind you once again of the misery that is represented by the Mt. Pinatubo tragedy; but there may be silver linings.

The situation in our land now in 2005 is critical. We could be plunged into some kind of civil war with the kind of leaders we have.

Persons we have voted for are failing us because of their personal greed for power, they seem unable to mange their lives without having to be a mayor, a congressman, governor, or even President often with their attendant dishonestly earned benefits.

But I continue to agree with Jose Rizal that our youth are the hope of the nation. If only they can involve themselves in active imagineering, they will save this nation from decay and total ruin. Jeremiah is right: young people seek the welfare of your country. Do not imitate the antics of our present leaders who lust for power.

In other words, my friends, however gloomy the outlook may be, however doomed the future, we can still shape it into one unheard of day for our coming generations. For we should be able to say with St. Paul, even if we say it in terms of a this-worldly future:

The sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).*

back to top