“Hinay-hinay, basta kanunay.”
To Pray on and Ponder: John 12, 24-26 “Hinay-hinay, basta kanunay” is a favorite Visayan-language quotation which I always liken to God’s grace. The dynamic movement is that of a slow, gentle drop of things, slowly, but constantly, like St. Ignatius’ image consoling grace—like water dripping on a sponge, it drips and drops, without noise, almost imperceptibly, slowly but surely. But we know that such water dripping hinay-hinay, basta kanunay would ultimately break the proverbial rock, rather than a one time, big time, noisy splash. I thought of this slow, gentle, relentless drop of things mulling over St. Thérèse, the foundress-saint we honor today. A big part of this slow and gentle drop of things in the spirit of St. Thérèse is her contemplation of the sweet and gentle goodness of God in all things. She saw goodness as though it were a golden stamp from the Creator that sealed goodness in every creature of God, even in the chair or kneeler she was using. But we see how this slow, gentle, relentless drop of things, assumes much depth when we come to know that the constant surrender to grace involved Thérèse’ gracious receiving of suffering from people around her, (some of whom are Jesuits: hmp, sorry po!). With much humility and grace, your foundress received humiliation and suffering and used these with the intention of purifying the world of sin’s hold of it. This is at the very heart of the “law of the cross” as Jesuit theologian, Bernard Lonergan describes it. That in Jesus’ loving self-sacrifice on the cross, he took upon himself the sin and violence around him and transmuted it into obedient loving surrender to his Father’s will and loving self-sacrifice for the people he loved. This cross of Christ, wherever it is lived and embraced always leaves a world closer to redemption and communion with the loving God, hinay-hinay, basta kanunay. I believe St. Thérèse learned this by suffering it and experiencing deep joy for it. She herself testifies: Oh! If people could understand beforehand the sweetness and the peace enjoyed by those who would hold nothing back from the Good God! How he communicates himself to the soul who sincerely seeks him and who knows how to surrender herself. Let them just experience it, and they will see that therein is found the true happiness which they are vainly seeking elsewhere. (To Surrender Oneself, 1864) St. Ignatius once described the Jesuit of his dreams in similar terms: “men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified.” That by our gentle acts in ministry, we join Jesus Christ chipping away at sin and corruption in the world, crucifying it, really; but by sheer counterflow in things, we, ourselves are crucified to the world as well, going countercurrent to the world’s desires will always invite a backlash, but we continue chipping away anyways. And it will bear fruit as the Gospel proclaims—“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. This morning, I kept marveling at how the slowness and gentleness in St. Thérèse learned her surrender to grace in the face of all the humiliation and suffering her commitment entailed, and how she ultimately experienced joy and peace as she gave her all to her Lord. And I guess the key is still the ever-growing love she kept in her heart for Jesus, and the way she ultimately contemplated the face of Jesus’ goodness in everything, hinay-hinay basta kanunay. And you know the grace of the founder sure is the grace of the daughters. I think of the Cenacle sisters close to me, and I see this slow and gentle drop of things reflected well in their lives, and I’m in awe at beholding God’s fidelity and constancy in them, in their friendship and their service. In them we see a God who always provides all of us with the grace we precisely need in our lives time and time again, with great hospitality and thoughtful gentleness and reliable strength, trully, really, hinay-hinay, basta kanunay! Homily delivered by Fr Vic Baltazar, SJ on the Feast of Saint Thèrése Couderc, Founder of the Religious of the Cenacle 26 September 2024 Cenacle Retreat House