“It implies a smile,” the towering Spanish man in a white cassock told the employees of the University of Asia & the Pacific (UA&P) gathered at the Celestino Dizon Auditorium on October 16.
“It” refers to the Christian identity of UA&P, the whys and wherefores of the priest’s address, and the brimming auditorium, that Wednesday morning.
“A smile is a really small thing, but it’s very important. And this is a consequence of being a Christian,” he said, himself in positive enthusiasm in the two hours he was on the stage.
UA&P Honorary Vice Grand Chancellor Rev. Fr. Julio Diéguez, in his first get-together with the employees for the year, emphasized the vital role of Christian values in shaping the University’s identity and mission and the personal responsibility that each employee has in maintaining UA&P’s Christian identity.
“The Catholic and Christian inspiration of this university is so important,” he began. “We are convinced that the Christian faith has something to offer to society, to the world. It has a lot of power to contribute to the creation of a better world… to forming better persons.”
Serving as the Regional Vicar of Opus Dei for the Philippines and Indonesia, Fr. Diéguez articulated that UA&P is not a Catholic university in the strict sense but is deeply inspired by Christian values and specifically by the spirit of Opus Dei.
“The spirit of Opus Dei can be summarized by saying that it is to transmit the awareness that everybody can be a saint. And that holiness can be achieved through ordinary life and the sanctification of work,” he remarked.
Fr. Diéguez clarified, however, that the University’s Christian identity does not come from having an Opus Dei chaplain or offering theological subjects. Rather, he said, it is seen in how the people in UA&P work or study and deal with each other, promoting the dignity of every human being as a person, as a child of God.
“We have to transmit with our actions that every person is important,” he explained, noting that doing so is a challenge but a challenge that Christians want to take and deal with positively to make Jesus Christ present in themselves and visible to every person they meet.
“Sometimes there are conflicts that we do not know how to resolve well, but at least we have to try. And we need to have the intention—the disposition—of always providing some motives for joy and for the good of others.”
Addressing the importance of personal responsibility in maintaining this Christian identity, Fr. Diéguez reminded the employees that it is not just the responsibility of religious figures or the institution but of each person to embody Christian virtues such as openness, collaboration, and kindness in their daily interactions.
“We find very good people who cannot understand each other. This is something that can happen because we are limited—everyone is limited—but it is something that we have to struggle with. The struggle is to change, to transform our character. [We want to be able to say] ‘I want to be a person with a more open character, a person who can collaborate with people who think differently from me.’”
He urged the employees to live out the Christian identity, saying, “It is shown in this habitual joy and smiling, and in the way of dealing with others, with this delicateness that is proper to a person who wants to show that he is a brother of Jesus Christ.”
Fr. Diéguez concluded by calling on everyone to contribute to an environment of collaboration and harmony, which he believes will not only benefit the University but also society at large.
“If we truly embrace these values, this will be a much better place to work and study, and will contribute a lot to the good of society in the future.”#
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