Fr. Leo Pabayo .
THE first basic knowledge of the truth about life and the world is given us in the Bible, in the Book of Genesis. Genesis, as the word implies is about the beginning of creation.
Before this was written the content of this book was most likely handed down to us orally by the first holy men and women to whom God has revealed the first truths that it talks about. It is most likely a primitive account that is based on the first on the human awareness of God and creation. This book is obviously not a scientific treatise. The creation of the world by God was understood in the context of the authors’ understanding or experience of God and the world.
According to this book of Genesis, God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. He speaks this way about creation because he believed that the way God created according to his belief and understanding of the nature of God.
According to Genesis the apex of creation is the creation of man and woman. God created them in his image and likeness. He created them to be one or to be united from the very beginning.
In the Book of Genesis, God says that in the beginning man and woman shall leave their parents to be together and be partners in creating a family.
This implies that from the very beginning God intended man and woman to complement each other form a family and that would form the basic unit of society.
The first and most important kind of knowledge the Book of Genesis, and the Gospel passage we cited implies that the first kind of knowledge that we ought to seek and acquire is knowledge of is God and ourselves as persons who are made to the image and likeness of God with the purpose of making us into a family that would ultimately to become one family of mankind that is united in love.
The most deeply meaningful commentary about the creation story that I have read is the one that says that the family is the greatest masterpiece of God’s creation.
Our schooling or study therefore ought first of all to help us in getting to know God and to know ourselves whom God has created in His image and likeness belonging to the family. He created us for the purpose of making us his children who ultimately belong one family of mankind.
We are children of God. All other kinds of knowledge that we study in school are all meant ultimately to help us to grow in knowledge and understanding of God and ourselves as God’s children.
God created the other things in creation that we may use them to help us attain the basic purpose of our life which is to know, love and serve God and one another as one family of mankind.
In the very beginning God started with the family by the love of our first parents for one each other. According to the Bible, this knowledge does not come to man easily because of the sin that our first parents have committed from the very beginning of their existence. In fact, the original love bestowed by God to our first parents was lost because of this sin. It only came to be gradually recovered by man through the faith of Abraham and his children and all the believers and holy people after him.
This new knowledge and faith of Abraham and his descendants would go through many crooked ways that the prophets would do try to correct and help bring about the many saving acts of God in the history of man. The story of the saving acts of God culminated in the coming of the Son of God as man, in the person of Jesus the Christ. He came when “the faithful remnant of God’s people” were finally ready to accept our salvation from sin that has robbed us of the knowledge and love of God and one another and of the meaning of all of God’s creation.
The new knowledge of the truth about us and the world is the knowledge that springs from the knowledge and love that comes from Jesus Christ that is given us by the Holy Spirit.
It is this that will ultimately help us to make sense of the world that we seek to understand and to give us the true and necessary practical knowledge that we need to make our life better and get rid of the many disorders in the world and in our lives. This is the knowledge that we ought to first “ask for, to seek, to knock at the door of” for the purpose of entering God’s Kingdom.
Thus we are told by Christ in another passage in the Gospel, “Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be given to you.”
To get back to where we started, life from the very beginning is all about love. That is what the kingdom of God or heaven that we are heir to is about. Christ in his debate with the Sadducees said that in heaven we transcend our sexuality. In the Resurrection of the dead our new life in heaven only love of God and of another are what really matters. According to the Gospel of St. Matthew and then of St. Luke, Jesus in his debate with the Sadducees says that our state of life in the resurrection of the dead life will be something like that of the angels. There are other passages in the Scripture that explains this in other ways.
The very first encyclical or letter to the faithful that Pope Benedict XVI wrote was “God Is Love.”
The very first Synod or meeting of the Catholic Bishops and other leaders in the Catholic Church throughout the world that Pope Francis called was about Love in the family.
Taking a cue from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and the current reigning Pope Francis, the first thing that we ought to be concerned about and ask questions about in the work of Education is love, the Love of God and one another, starting with our family. These ought to be the very first concern of education. With this as the start the other kinds of knowledge that we seek in education will fall into place.
Disclaimer
Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.
