The magnetic
pull of the Divine

Second Part One classic story about the instrumentality of a person in the conversion of another is that of St. Augustine, who was a free-wheeling youth in Italy. He was such a libertine that he refused all the invitations for him to follow Christ. Even the preaching of Ambrose (the silver-tongued) did not move him to conversion. But what clinched it for Augustine's faith was his own mother's fervent love for Christ and fervent prayers for her son. Somehow this exemplary faith of Monica rubbed off on the young man who eventually became one of the greatest thinkers of the Church.

Some of you may now reflect on your own experience. One alumnus who lived in a dormitory in Silliman tells me he owes his faith to a fellow interno who had such a vital Christian life that it had rubbed off on him, and he has been an active member of the Church ever since. One structured program for faith sharing - the Galilean Fellowship - has many students decide for Christ. It is either a breakfast fellowship for two days held twice a year during Religious Life Emphasis Week or one held as a Galilean Evening Fellowhip held every second Wednesday of the month. It is inspiring to hear testimonies of young people especially.

Our irresistible attraction to the Christian faith through the various experiences of others has been stated in a lovely poem:

It was that when you came you brought
A sense of Him
And from your eyes Christ beckons me,
And from your love His love is shed
Till I lose sight of you
And see the Christ instead

Moreover, have you experienced, yourself, that in your human heart, there wells up a yearning, a hope, or a view of the transcendent? St. Paul, according to the book of Acts, speaking to pagans in Athens tells them that "God is not far from anyone of us; for we are God's offspring; for in God we live and move and have our being."

That God is transcendent is true in the beliefs of non-Christians, true in the belief of pre-Christian Filipinos. For the Phrase, "bahala na," goes back to the pre-Christian bame God, "Bathala," When I found myself in the Himalayas mountains some years ago, I came to know that the idea of a transcendent God was of course an essential part of the Buddhist faith. ( To be continued)*

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