In celebration of the Feast Day of Saint Benilde Romançon, the College’s patron saint, a Solemn Eucharistic Celebration was presided by Rev. Fr. Marion Noel Bayaras at the Manila Cathedral earlier today, Aug. 13, and streamed live on Benilde’s Center for Lasallian Ministry Facebook page.

Fr. Bayaras began his homily by stating where wisdom could be found, emphasizing that although age and knowledge from experiences may be some of the sources, they do not assure that one has truly grown in wisdom. Advice from elders are also strong sources of wisdom because of their learnings and insights throughout the years; however, Fr. Bayaras pointed out that in reality, even the elderly are susceptible to their own biases.

“With the information overload these days, most of the time, they are the vulnerable victims of fake news and social media propaganda. But that doesn’t mean that our elders already lack wisdom, it simply means they are not the be-all [and] end-all of wisdom,” Fr. Bayaras said.

He emphasized that, “We may gain wisdom from them but they do not have the monopoly of wisdom, because at the end of the day, we will never be old enough to gain all the wisdom of the world. And if that would be the case, all of us, no matter how young or old, will all be students looking for wisdom.”

He also added that as everyone is continuously learning and seeking for wisdom, one should not assert superiority over others. Moreover, precedence over wisdom signifies that one has  stopped learning and began their close mindedness.

“Being superior is never a license to belittle what others can contribute even in the realm of wisdom. Our own unique experiences are our own teaching mechanisms to impart wisdom to others. [...] True wisdom will always be accompanied with humility: only the humble can truly be called wise, only the humble can gain wisdom, only the humble can decipher wisdom from foolishness,” Fr. Bayaras shared, highlighting the importance of humility.

Given such, he explained that among various sources, Jesus’ crucifixion is the perfect standard of wisdom.

“It is in Jesus on the cross that we learn to be humble. It is in Jesus on the cross that we learn how to be truly superior over others… We look at Jesus as our standard of wisdom, not only because he is [the] wisdom incarnate, but because He himself has shown us how to be truly wise by being humble,” he stated.

“In this day and age wherein we can be proud [of] what we have achieved, of what we have gained, or of what we have learned, can we still be humble enough that we do not have the monopoly of everything? Do we open our ears to listen, do we open our minds to understand, and do we open our hearts to empathize?” Fr. Bayaras pointed out, concluding that we should follow the example of Saint Benilde through his humility, faith, service, and communion in seeking wisdom.

“As we celebrate the Feast of Saint Benilde Romançon, let us look at how we view the wisdom of the world and how God offers us His wisdom. We can easily gain wisdom through ordinary things—the advice of elders, the experiences that we have, and the knowledge that we have gained—but let us not limit ourselves with these ordinary means, because the wisdom of God will be offered to us extraordinarily well,” he explained.

“Jesus [on] the cross will never be ordinary. God dying for us will never be ordinary. And because of that, the wisdom that God offers will always be extraordinarily well,” Rev. Fr. Marion Noel Bayaras concluded.

As the final blessing was given, all were called upon to follow the Christian and religious life with constant fidelity just like Saint Benilde, as well as to be an example of austerity, innocence, serenity, wisdom, and humility, in devotion to serve God and neighbor. The mass ended with the Benildean Hymn.

Saint Benilde Romançon is known for his extraordinary religious sense and dedication for education as he held evening classes for the adults and tutoring for the less gifted students. By “doing common things in an uncommon way,” he was canonized on Oct. 29, 1967 by Pope Paul VI in Vatican City, making him the first Brother of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools to be canonized and the second saint after Saint Jean Baptiste de La Salle.