Father, what’s malansa?” Sherby, a grade three student asked.
“It means stinky, smelling like fish, or …,” I remembered I also once asked my father about the same word.
“Oh! It means that?”
“Why do you ask, Sherb?”
“’Coz, the Rizal hero said that if you don’t like to speak Tagalog, then you stink.”
Can you beat a child’s outright dismantling conclusion of one of Rizal’s famous rhyming advice?
After Sherby left for his class, I wondered how Rizal would react to today’s young generation. He probably would be overwhelmed by how they are exposed to so much information from the Internet, cable TV, music, magazines and books. But he would probably be disappointed if young people are coming out less informed, unfocused and even not being able to speak either Tagalog or English fluently with all these audiovisual channels.
Moreover, would Rizal not be dismayed if he saw the great following for dubbed Korean romantic stories and a Filipino audience –despite such heavy exposure– that is incapable of even picking up some Korean words or expressions?
He would conclude such a ‘dubbed culture’ deforms young people who end up thinking, reflecting and creating less. Their instantaneous desire for gratification leaves them always seeking the least possible effort to achieve whatever good or goal in life.
Can a sort of dubbed mentality also happen in the spiritual life?
* * *
Yes, in fact something similar and perhaps worse can happen in a dubbed spiritual life. As with dubbed movies, one cannot fully appreciate the rich nuances within a particular culture. Thus, even though the movie or song may be translated for us in our own language, we know that some things cannot be ‘fully conveyed’ and eventually are lost.
Some may say that this is not really significant because what is important is grasping the story or plot. True, but this is like going for fast-food to simply pacify one’s hunger and missing a chance of learning how to cook or bake, or what ingredients made the dish unique, etc. One’s mere interest to gratify his biological urges leaves no room for any intellectual or cultural ruminating.
In a similar way, the spiritual life may be dubbed. This is the case of so many young people who attend Sunday Mass, say the Rosary, or do retreats and other pious practices but without truly being smitten or awakened by the enriching graces present in the Church’s spiritual and ascetical practices.
A dubbed spiritual life contributes to the growth of ignorance. A person’s ignorance becomes a shallow pit of sentimentality that is whimsically abandoned once the person has gotten his ‘spiritual fill or high’.
This is probably why Pope Francis, in his address to the youth in Korea, expressed his sadness when he saw ‘young people sleeping.’
It is not easy, especially in the virtual worlds the young constantly build and surf, for many of them to be stirred with overused power point presentations, video clips, background music, and other attempts to win their attention. Sometimes we become insecure that if we don’t tow the same digital line, the young will not connect with the message of the Gospel.
But how can we unveil the invisible gifts for them if their exterior senses– already heightened by colors, music and misplaced parlor games– only drown their spiritual senses? It may seem hard at first, but we must untiringly have the courage to remove the ‘dubbing’ or elements that superficially convey the faith in order to reveal the captivating mystery of the Gospel.
We correct a dubbed spiritual life when we remove what is artificial or digital and put in an authentic witnessing of our personal life. The young need models and icons of a sincere struggle for holiness.
Any effort to be entertaining can never compete with what they are exposed to through their daily finger-clicks in the tidal wave of professionally mounted media.
Witnessing is revealed, despite our personal defects and limitations, through our sincere effort to be constant in our prayers, a sacramental life and generous self-giving to our neighbor. This is coupled with the coherency of our spiritual life manifested in our struggle not to compare, criticize and condemn others. And even in our trials, they silently see and are strengthened by our patience, understanding, compassion and forgiveness.
Thus, the young may indeed ‘wake up’. As Pope Francis said in his address to the youth in South Korea: “Let Christ turn your natural optimism into Christian hope, your energy into moral virtue, your goodwill into genuine self-sacrificing love… As young Christians, you are not only a part of the future of the Church; you are also a necessary and beloved part of the Church’s present. You are the present of the Church.