Below is the talk given by His Eminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal on February 5, 1998, for the Blessing of the new St. John Center in Cebu City, The Philippines.

"The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgment on secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing is hidden from him. Everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account of ourselves"--(Heb. 4:12-13).

I came to understand the meaning of these words when I was praying the Divine Office one Friday morning. Daytime prayer that day included Psalm 119. There, in verse 30, the words struck me like thunder: "I have chosen the way of truth."

The late Archbishop Mariano Madriaga was then asking me for an Episcopal motto to go with my coat-of-arms. I had none in mind since becoming a Bishop was farthest from my plans. His request however, gave me the right frame of mind to sift through the words of Scripture for a line that would sum up the direction of my priesthood. As they say in scholastic philosophy, "nothing is found unless sought." I sought and I found it. "Viam veritatis elegi."

It was not the first time that I saw the text. I have been praying the Divine Office since I was a seminarian. Psalm 119 has always been there in the daytime prayer of Friday Week I. But it was only at this particular moment that the words seemed to speak to me with fresh clarity. I felt then that God was articulating for me His call in more specific terms.

The Experience of Truth

"Viam veritatis elegi" was an articulation of my experience in the ministry. My Bishop, the late Alfredo Maria Obviar would often send me to priests of our Diocese of Lucena who are having difficulties in their ministry. I would seek out the priest equipped with nothing but the sincere search for truth. The temptation for me was to prejudge the priest, to give him a piece of my mind, to come more as an "inspector general" ready to ferret out the facts of the case than as a brother-priest who is willing to listen and empathize. But I have learned in these moments of intervention that truth is not to be found in the facts, but in the person himself.

You who belong to the younger generation have been so steeped in the technical and instrumental mind-set of the West that it has become second nature for you to equate "truth" with "facts". Truth for you is the news on TV. Truth is the mathematical equation or the scientific formula. Truth is the affidavit of a witness or the judgment of a jury. But you and I know that there is more to truth than just a set of facts. If truth were reducible to facts, then there would be no room for compassion and empathy. There would be no place for pardon and mercy. There would be no possibility for dialogue and understanding.

The Truth of Persons

My experience with crisis intervention taught me that truth is to found more in the person than in the facts and circumstances of a case. At the center of every controversy is the person--in my case, the priest. There are many sides to a controversy; but what better way to see every aspect of it than to be at the center of it all, where the perspective allows me the widest angle to view every aspect of the case? Over and above what other people say, it is when the priest himself starts to say something about himself, his situation, the possibility of redeeming himself, that he can be set on the way to the truth.

I do not mean here that I lend more credence to what the priest says than to what others might say. I do not mean I give more weight to the priest's justification in my report to the Bishop. Take note that I did not say "what the priest says"; rather I said "when the priest begins to say something about himself." It is when the priest starts to open up that an encounter with truth takes place. It is when we begin to share experiences, talk about our common joys and pains, exchange insights and ideas that both of us begin to walk on the "way of truth."

Truth as Experience

As a newly ordained Bishop in Malolos, I once had an encounter with a priest who resented my reprimand. I was told by priests close to him that he would not talk to me anymore. So deep was his resentment that he vowed never to say anything to me. I resolved to see him in his "convento." True enough, he did not meet me at the front door. So I went up and found him high up in the ceiling. He was standing on a ladder, re-painting the ceiling of his "convento." I called up to him, but he acted like he didn't hear me. Then I said, "Father, I'm sorry. I would like to apologize for hurting your feelings." He almost fell from the ladder. He could not believe that a Bishop would ask forgiveness from his priest. He immediately came down and embraced me, and we cried together.

The way to truth is a dynamic process. Truth is something that we first experience before it is articulated. The way to truth therefore, requires involvement.

As a seminary formator of sixteen years and a bishop for thirty, I have had the privilege of walking with many seminarians and priests and lay people. Being a formator and a superior has never been a pleasant job for me, since it always involves the distasteful task of evaluating persons.

It is never easy to evaluate persons. The person is always an irreducible Other. His deeds may be judged as good or bad, but his being always escapes definition. These days, there are many theories about behavior patterns proposed by as many psychologists. There are self-styled "gurus" and pseudo- scientists out there who try to mix astrology with psychiatry to propose new personality traits. The person, however, is larger than behavior and trait. The person defies any pattern, because he defies classification. The person is essentially a "rebel without a cause."

To know a person, one has to get involved with him. One has to walk with him and share his experiences. Involvement is a two-way process. We cannot share the experiences of an Other if he closes himself from us. Neither can we force ourselves on him. Involvement with a person is strictly "invitational." Involvement can only happen in the context of a relationship.

The person is the access to truth. But it doesn't mean that the person is only a means to truth. The person is always an end in himself, but it is only as persons that we can walk together towards the truth.

Allow me to explain this idea with a story. When God decided to dwell among men, he asked the angels where he should live. There were many proposals coming from the ranks of angels. One said he should live on a high mountain. Another suggested he should stay in a temple. Still some little cherubim proposed that God should stay in an island. But one smart seraph told God to live in the hearts of men. In that way, he would be most accessible to everyone. God took the seraph's suggestion seriously. He set out to dwell in the hearts of men. But alas, he could not have found a more hidden place. For as long as men do not love each other, they would never find the God who dwells in their hearts.

We will never find the truth unless we seek into each others hearts. "Seeking each other's hearts" is what I mean by involvement and relationship. Some people find it a need to first know the person before venturing into a relationship with him. But if it is knowledge of persons that we seek, we would never find it. Persons by nature are opaque. We are transparent only to God. To presume to know a person is to claim power and control over that person. Such a claim necessarily negates the possibility of mutuality and intimacy.

It is therefore only as persons, that is, as free and mutually sharing individuals, that we can walk together towards the truth. The truth is found in us. God dwells in our hearts. And He reveals himself to us only in the moment of self-revelation.

Such self-revelation is always an experience. Experience, as one philosopher puts it, is always an earth-shaking event. If any event must be worthy of the name "experience", it must effect a change of heart, a revision of views, an overhaul of one's understanding of the world.

Christ -the Way, the Truth and the Life

There are many earth-shaking events in the Bible, but none is more illustrative of what I mean than the many encounters of Saint Peter with the Lord.

Saint Peter has always been privileged to articulate much of what is true about the Lord. It was he who cried our at their first encounter by the shore of Lake Gennesaret: "Leave me Lord, for I am a sinful man." It was he who said: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." It was also he who declared: "Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life."

At each instance, there was a progressive knowledge between Peter and the Lord. In their first encounter, the experience shook Peter's faith in himself. It radically shifted his gaze from his own sinful self to the purity of Jesus' call. From that time on, he ceased to be a fisherman. In accordance with the will of God, he became a "fisher of men." Here was "experience" that changed the heart of a man.

Then, when the Lord asked the disciples who they thought he was, Peter proudly declared knowledge of the Lord. He was the Messiah, "the Son of the Living God." Peter claimed knowledge about the Lord, a knowledge that had to be tested in the crucible of experience. In this case, Peter "spoke" the truth, but he did not "experience" the truth.

In the Lord's discourse about the Bread of Life, the other disciples left Jesus save for Peter and his companions. When the Lord asked them, "How about you; are you also going to leave"? Peter replied, "Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life." Here truth is articulated but is not understood. And yet, it did not fail to impress Peter and his friends. There are many things that they did not understand about Jesus. But truth need not be understood. There are some truths that elude articulation. Such truths need only to be "experienced."

The fullness of experience came only after the resurrection. At the final confrontation between Jesus and Peter, the Lord asked him, "Peter, do you love me"? Peter's reply was firm and clear: "Yes Lord, I love you."

In this last encounter, Peter did not articulate a truth about Christ. He did not define the Lord. He did not say you are this or you are that. He simply stated his relationship with him. "Yes Lord, I do love you." And yet, there can be no greater truth that can be said about Christ than this one simple affirmation of love.

This is the greatest truth Peter was capable of attaining. This is the greatest truth anyone is capable of reaching. To know and to feel deep in your heart that you love the Lord. Give me no other truth but this and my life would be complete. Give me no other truth but this and I would not seek for more!

Viam Veritatis Elegi

"I have chosen the Way of Truth." This is the task I have set for myself. To walk in the way of Christ that I might encounter him along the way. Psalm 119 continues after verse 30: "I bind myself to do your will; Lord do not disappoint me. I will run the way of your commands; you give freedom to my heart." The man who opens himself to the love of the Lord will set his heart upon His commands. It is only by doing the will of God that he will discover freedom in his heart. Indeed, the Truth will set him free.

I have tried to do this by standing firm on principles which I know is founded on the truth. It is not always easy to discern the truth. As I have said earlier, there are many sides to a controversy. I have been involved in many controversies myself. I have been pilloried in the press for taking the side of truth. Our struggle with "lotto" and other forms of gambling is one example. I know that some people are not sure about the immorality of gambling. They need to be enlightened. There are many sides to a controversy, but what emerges as paramount in this case is the welfare of the people--people who are persons... a wife beaten by her gambler of a husband... children who will not have food in their table because the money earned by their parents are spent more on vices than for the basic necessities of life... desperate people buried in debt... people in despair.

These are the people behind the facts and statistics of "lotto." These are what constitute the truth about gambling.

Another experience of truth which I cherish in a special way are the dialogues that are often held in my residence. There, people sit together in order to reach an agreement about things that divide them. The laborers against their employer, the politician against his constituents, the strikers against the establishment, the coup plotters against the defenders of the constitution.

For me, it is not so much the issues that are resolved in these encounters that matter. The facts do not change even after the protagonists shall have left the negotiating table. But they do leave with a slight change in their hearts. No one who confronts his fellowman with all sincerity can leave the experience without something in him changing for the better. As long as the protagonists in a dialogue are sincere, the possibility of agreement can never be discounted, no matter how diametrically opposed the initial positions may have been.

I Bind Myself to Do Your Will

"The will of God gives joy to the heart." Indeed, choosing the way of truth entails a brutal kind of honesty. For the greatest pitfall for all truth-seekers is the seduction of self-delusions.

It is not enough to find the truth in the other. We must also find it in ourselves. This entails a sincere dedication to reality. Psychologists are one in saying that mental health is essentially a devotion to reality. The world is a hall of mirrors. Oftentimes, it offers us a distorted vision of ourselves. What we need therefore is a constant self-examination. We must always reflect on our realities, question our motives, and above all, submit our will to God.

We must banish all illusions of ourselves. Useless imaginings and fantasies can carry us to heights of delusion. Undue expectations about ourselves can make us at once sound presumptuous and look stupid. We would be headed straight towards a life of frustrations.

The world loves to flatter a man who harbors illusions about himself, because all the world loves a clown.

Only the man who walks humbly with God will know himself in the light of truth. A man who hears the Word of God and keeps it will never be mistaken about himself. Remember what the Letter to the Hebrews says:
The Word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgment on secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing is hidden from him. Everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account of ourselves.